how do you write an assignment on sonnet

How To Write A Sonnet

Want to know how to write a sonnet like one of Shakespeare’s? There’s good news and bad news when writing sonnets. The good news is that it’s very easy to write a sonnet. The bad news is that your sonnet will unlikely ever be as good as any of Shakespeare’s… but that’s no reason not to try!

Sonnet structure

A sonnet expresses a single idea, but it is generally an idea that develops and expands, with multiple facets, leading to a conclusion – and all within a very specific rhyming scheme. In addition to this structure, all Shakespearean sonnets must have these two things in common:

1. All Shakespearean sonnets have 14 lines

2. All Shakespearean sonnets are written in iambic pentameter

(Find out more about what a sonnet is , and iambic pentameter , or discover some wonderful sonnet examples from a variety of poets.)

The 14 lines of the sonnet consist of four divisions, known as ‘quatrains’. The first three of the four sonnet divisions/quatrains have the same rhyme scheme, whilst the fourth and last division/quatrain has a different rhyme scheme:

All Shakespearean sonnets follow this 14 line pattern and rhyming structure. So, now you have the basics, here are the three simple steps to have you writing your own sonnet in no time:

1. Think of an idea for your sonnet

Your sonnet must be about one single idea. It could be a feeling, like being in love. It could be some thought you’ve had about life, or about a person or about people in general. It could be about one of your favourite subjects – sport, music, movies, nature, a book you’ve read, etc.

2. Your sonnet must rhyme in a specific pattern

Your 14 line sonnet must be written in three sets of four lines and one set of two lines.

1. The first quatrain will have lines that end in a rhyme scheme like this: ABAB, for example, ‘day’, ‘temperate’, ‘may’, ‘date’.

2. The second quatrain will use different words to rhyme scheme like this: CDCD, for example, ‘shines’, ‘dimmed’, ‘declines’, ‘untrimmed’.

3. The third quatrain needs different words again, to rhyme scheme like this: EFEF, for example, ‘fade’, ‘lowest’, ‘shade’, ‘growest’.

4. You now have your three Shakespearean quatrains – that’s 12 lines. Remember that a Shakespearean sonnet always has 14 lines, so you need two final lines – called a couplet. The rhyme scheme for this is GG, using words you haven’t used in the rhyming so far, for example, ‘see’ and thee’.

The rhyme pattern of your 14 line sonnet should now look like this: ABAB CDCD EFEF GG

Simple, isn’t it?

Let’s look at a Shakespeare sonnet 18 to understand how the rhyming works, and how the message evolves:

First quatrain

A: Shall I compare thee to a Summer’s day? B: Thou art more lovely and more temperate: A: Rough winds do shake the darling buds of May, B: And Summer’s lease hath all too short a date:

Second quatrain

C: Sometime too hot the eye of heaven shines, D: And oft’ is his gold complexion dimm’d; C: And every fair from fair sometime declines, D: By chance or nature’s changing course untrimm’d:

Third quatrain

E: But thy eternal Summer shall not fade F: Nor lose possession of that fair thou owest; E: Nor shall Death brag thou wanderest in his shade, F: When in eternal lines to time thou growest:

G: So long as men can breathe, or eyes can see, G: So long lives this, and this gives life to thee .

The sonnet is about a single idea. Shakespeare is looking at a beautiful summer’s day which, in spite of its beauty, has limitations, and it eventually fades and dies. He’s comparing someone with that beautiful summer’s day but showing that person’s superiority to it. He works the idea through and presents the subject of the poem as having no limitations. Even eventual death won’t interfere with that because the subject will live forever in the poem, which Shakespeare suggests, will be read as long as there are people to read it.

The rhyme scheme is used to change emphasis. Each aspect of the poems’ idea is contained in its own section with its own rhyming word pattern.

Look at the first two quatrains again. The subject is introduced and we are told that he or she is more beautiful than a summer’s day. The defects of the summer’s day are outlined.

Look at the third quatrain. It starts with the word ‘but.’ That marks a shift of emphasis. Now the subject’s eternal beauty is emphasised.

Look at the couplet. It’s a summing up – an assurance that the subject’s beauty will last for as long as there are human beings on Earth. A rhyming couplet in English poetry is always very powerful, and in a sonnet, this couplet sums up and rounds off the poem. It can be used to put emphasis on the main idea, or to undermine it, or to offer a humorous perspective. And in Shakespeare it is quite frequently very personal, in some cases amounting to a personal statement.

3. Your sonnet must have a metrical pattern

The third step in this ‘how to write a sonnet’ guide is to write your sonnet in iambic pentameter . That means that you must use iambus.

Iambus is another word for a two-syllable foot. The first syllable will normally be unstressed and the second stressed. For example, de/ light , the sun , for/ lorn , one day, re/ lease . English is a perfect language for iambus because of the way the stressed and unstressed syllables work.

Every line of your sonnet must have five feet (so 10 syllables). Pentameter means five and iambic pentameter simply means five feet. Shakespeare uses iambic pentameter, not only in the sonnets but also throughout his plays.

Pick up any Shakespeare play and look at it. Choose almost any line, here’s one from Lady Macbeth :

‘But screw your courage to the sticking post’

Read it like this:

But screw / your cour /age to / the stick /ing post

Count the feet – there are five. And they are all unstressed followed by stressed syllables.

Shakespeare uses iambic pentameter because it closely resembles the rhythm of everyday speech and he wants to imitate everyday speech in his plays.

Like Shakespeare you can also trot them out. Try it. If your friend also wants to write a sonnet you can practice talking to each other in iambic pentameter. It comes easily. ‘I wonder what my friends will think of this?’ ‘If I were you I’d watch out what I say.’ ‘He never ever told me what to do.’ ‘It’s easy when you think of it like that.’

You can see from the above sentences that iambic pentameter occurs naturally to English speech . So the first thing to do is practice speaking in iambic pentameter. You’ll see how naturally it comes.

You now have to put the three things together – your idea, your rhyming words and your iambic pentameter.

Things to think about

• Use as many visual images (word pictures) as you can.

• Find the right words.

• Don’t deviate from the iambic pentameter or your sonnet won’t work. You can make slight variations in the stressing for the sake of varying the rhythm so that you don’t get too much of a ‘dedum-dedum-dedum-dedum-dedum’ effect.

For example Shakespeare’s sonnet 116 has the opening line ‘Let me not to the marriage of true minds.’ If you read it like this:

Let me / not to / the mar /riage of / true minds

it sounds unnatural, but it is still iambic pentameter. Shakespeare has used iambic pentameter but he’s varied the meter to create a different rhythm. So although it’s basic iambic pentameter we read it with the stresses that come from natural speech. Notice how the first three words run into each other as though they’re one word: letmenot.

The iambic pentameter can be slightly flexible, but you must stick rigidly to the required line structure for your sonnet. Shakespeare makes these types of variations a lot in his plays, and that’s why you can hear the language as real people speak it but feel the basic meter in your head.

Now you know how to write a sonnet, there’s no excuse: It’s time to start work on your own sonnet! Good luck, and let us know how you get on with writing your own sonnet in the comments below.

Shakespeare pondering how to write a sonnet whlist sat at his desk

Shakespeare pondering how to write a sonnet whilst sat at his desk

WhatsApp 14
Pinterest 2

Music (Sonnet)

Being more than just random combined sounds A fusion of instruments and motion Create and produce beauty that surrounds Harmony that expresses emotion Dancing with the influence of the notes Representing along with written tones Known as the art of composing quotes And as the science of performing groans Being based on the lyricist awards And the problems that are noticed around The pleasing harmonious softly chords Mostly being listened on the background Ready to shift the plot of your story With all the ambitions of the glory

Shakspher is awesome!!!!

I’m. . . uh. . . using this for a prophecy in my Warrior Cats fanfiction. . .

A cat whose father came from far above Will learn to bear the weight of prophecy The brightest failings of her mother’s love Are paramount to her integrity

There is another, born so long ago To that same father and a mother fierce Her pelt was lily-white and his like snow And her inheritance his heart will pierce

These half-forgotten siblings will no more Be unaware of who they really are Their friendship will persist forevermore Unless the heavens’ fury leaves its scar

Son of flowers, tangled daughter, rise To save the only bird that never flies

How to Write a Sonnet

Updated January 9, 2020

A Quick Sonnet Guide.

A traditional sonnet should have….

14 lines. X
Rhyming. The most common is the Shakespearean rhyme scheme: ABAB CDCD EFEF GG. These 14 letters represent the sonnet’s 14 lines and the same letter means those lines rhyme with each other. The more difficult Petrarchan sonnet rhyme scheme is ABBA ABBA CDE CDE, though there are many varieties of how to organize the scheme in those last six lines. X
Meter. Most commonly iambic pentameter. Beginners may count out 10 syllables per line. Real iambic pentameter means five unstressed-stressed units (dah DUM dah DUM dah DUM dah DUM dah DUM): “shall I comPARE thee TO a SUMmer’s DAY?” Each unit may be two syllables, but not always, (“it BRILliantly SOARED” could be counted as two iambs). More on meter below or here . X
A subject and a turn (“volta”). Most commonly a sonnet will have a focused subject that is explored in the first eight lines, then in the next six lines there will be a shift or turn (“volta”) in the poem that sheds new light on the subject or shifts perspective in some fashion. In Shakespeare’s famous “Sonnet 18” someone’s beauty is compared to a summer’s day in the first eight lines and then in the next six lines the poem shifts to the immortality granted to beauty by the power of poetry. X

For more examples you may also explore 31 Sonnets: Renaissance to New Millennial , which includes sonnets from long ago to the present. The Society of Classical Poets also regularly publishes traditional sonnets by leading poets (and sometimes high school students too). Submit your sonnet for publication to [email protected].

An In-Depth Sonnet Guide.

Writing a sonnet: easy to hard.

by Evan T. Mantyk

Put simply, a sonnet is a 14-line poem. You might write one for any number of reasons: a class assignment, a birthday present, or visions of poetic paradise and posterity. Let’s begin. I’ll take you through a simple guide that can lead to a basic sonnet in 10 minutes at the easy level to one that demonstrates literary mastery at the difficult level.

Level 1: Easy: A Sonnet in 10 Minutes

Poetry, at its best, is about those great lofty and universal themes like beauty, the meaning of life, and compassion for our fellow human beings. But, it can also be humorous, unimportant, and topical. The genius of poetry is partially in the ability to convey a lot in a few words and make those few word catchy and attractive to your audience. To write a quick sonnet, we need something specific to focus on. A person, a painting, a book, a character, an event, a place, a relationship between two things, and so on. Can’t find a topic? Just look for a picture or poster you like. Here’s a painting that I had as my desktop background for a while:

“Sunrise on the Bay of Fundy” by William Bradford (1823-1892)

Now, whatever your topic is, imagine it is real. You are in front of it or in it. What are you feeling? Use your five senses and a sprinkle of imagination. Compare what you are thinking of to something (“the water was clear like crystal”; “the water was crystal” or better yet “the crystalline water”). You can also repeat words and phrases for emphasis (“ What a beautiful morning… What a gorgeous sea…”).

Let the writing begin. Try to limit yourself to lines that are not more than half the page (with 12 point font, on a standard word processing page) and try to mostly end your sentences or thoughts where a line ends. It doesn’t have to be one line per thought; you could have a thought that is four lines, but try to wrap it up by the end of that fourth line, not in the middle of it. Capitalization of the first letter of each line and standard punctuation are optional.

Here we go:

On William Bradford’s “Sunrise on the Bay of Fundy”

The waves are bumpy and the wind blows hard, But the sunrise is so beautiful to look at, I could sit and look at it forever; I feel like a new day is beginning and everything is going To be okay, especially because there is This guy there for me to talk to. Why do people, like me, like to look at the water so much; Why not just look at the land all the time? There is something special about the water. Maybe it’s the clear horizon line, like a desert. It makes you feel big and opened up to the sky. Openness makes you feel cleansed, Pure, like the garbage cans been emptied, And powerful, like you could go anywhere.

Done! You have written a sonnet in free verse. Check the timer.

Level 2: Medium: Rhyme-y Poetry

Many people will say that poetry isn’t poetry if it doesn’t rhyme. Traditionally speaking, this is generally true of short poems like sonnets. Sonnet, after all, means “little song” in Italian, and song lyrics, as we know, usually rhyme.

If you aren’t naturally good at rhyming, there are plenty of sources of rhyme words online, such as Rhyme Desk or Rhymezone.com . If you can’t find a rhyme for your word, the tactic is usually to swap your original word with a different one that has the same meaning. For this, I recommend Merriam-Webster’s Thesaurus . Or, even rewrite the first line and first rhyme entirely in order to achieve the second line and/or rhyme you want. The rhyming poet must be flexible and agile.

Partial rhymes can also work. For example, the famously difficult rhyme word, orange, can be half rhymed with forage, storage, grange, strange, angel etc. You can also use alliterative rhymes that focus on the beginning of the word. For orange, you might use oratory, orangutan, ordinary, Orion. Here’s a poem written on the spot:

The Orange Poem

I listened to the oratory On the topic of the color orange At first I thought the topic ordinary Someone said “red and yellow make orange” But then it got a bit more strange He said, “A one-hundred-color range Forms the continuum of orange.”

Ready to rhyme? Next step is your rhyme scheme. If you are a beginner, it is easiest to just rhyme the lines as you go. Lines 1 and 2 end with the first rhyming pair (or couplet); lines 3 or 4 form the next rhyming pair and so on. If you continue this way to the end, the rhyme scheme of your sonnet is expressed this way:

aa bb cc dd ee ff gg

To make it more clear, here is a poem I made up on the spot with an aabba rhyme scheme:

I saw a great big dog (a) Standing on top of a log (a) I ran away (b) But then it came my way (b) And said, “May I join your jog?” (a)

The rhyme scheme used by William Shakespeare in the early 1600s was a bit more complicated. This is the typical rhyme scheme for a Shakespearean sonnet:

abab cdcd efef gg

Another classic and more difficult form is that used by the Italian poet Petrach in the 1300s:

abbaabba cdcdcd

abbaabba cdecde

Now, let’s return to the first two lines of our example poem on William Bradford’s painting. These are the current lines without rhyme:

The waves are bumpy and the wind blows hard But the sunrise is so beautiful to look at

We’ll try for the easiest type of rhyming in which each line rhymes with the next one. After a little shifting and head scratching, we get this:

The waves are bumpy and the hard wind blows But the beauty of the sunrise shows

Continue doing this for each line and you have a rhyming sonnet that looks more traditional than a free verse sonnet. The problem with the free verse sonnet is that people may not see any difference between your poem and ordinary writing, or prose. Rhyming solves this problem quite well.

Level 3: Medium-Difficult: Poetry with Rhyme and Structure

If you want to produce a sonnet with greater elegance and discipline that connects with the thousands of years of poets more fully then you should consider a rhyme scheme that isn’t necessarily so simple. You might use a Shakespearean or Petrarchan rhyme scheme, as described above, or some modification thereof.

Additionally, traditional or classical poets usually adhere to more rigid structure than is found in the easy-level free verse poem. In classical Chinese poetry, for example, each line has the same number of characters. In classical French poetry, poets count the syllables. The classical Greek and English poets depend on the number and placement of stresses. In most classical cultures, these structures create a kind of universal order, so that any missing word or stress upsets the entire order. Additionally, the sonnet itself matches other sonnets, not only in the number of lines, but the inner structure that has been used in sonnets for hundreds of years. Using a classical model leaves a well-structured poem resonating both backward and forward in history in ways that a free verse sonnet cannot. This is magnificent! Yet, also difficult.

For English poetry, the easiest way to provide some clear structure is by counting syllables, creating what is known as syllabic verse. Not sure how many syllables a word has? Visit Merriam-Webster’s Dictionary or Dictionary.com to see clearly how many syllables a word has. Rhyme Desk has a neat feature that counts as you write. Often you can also remove syllables, change “mirror” to “mirr’r,” or add syllables people don’t normally pronounce “poém” (pronounced “poh-em”). It does not have to be perfect. Although it should tend toward perfection. Sonnets usually have about 10 syllables per line (with meter, which we’ll discuss later, this is called iambic pentameter).

Here we go. Our original free verse sonnet is revised to include a Shakespearean sonnet rhyme scheme and 10 syllables per line. (Capitalization of the first letter of each line and standard punctuation should be included for this level.):

Steady currents of wind blow my face, Steady currents of water rock my feet, As the sun rises in its brilliant grace, The raucous world seems so smooth and so sweet.

Our small vessel has not yet raised its sail, My shipmate and I contemplate the day, And what our minor journey will entail, Nothing so important to again say.

And yet the immensity of the dawn, Accentuated by vast horizon, Is like a giant knot that’s been undone, And releases each trespass and treason.

Larger and better ships may sail around, Yet the expanse of my heart knows no bound.

Level 4: Difficult: Sonnet in Iambic Pentameter, Careful Attention to Meaning

More difficult and rewarding than counting syllables is looking at the meter. The meter is the use of stressed and unstressed syllables to create structure. The iamb is the most standard and natural unit in the English language. It is comprised of an unstressed syllable followed by a stressed syllable. Iambic pentameter is the traditional meter for a sonnet, and English poetry in general. You can feel the rhythm of a poem more clearly when it’s composed with meter rather than with syllable counting. For iambic pentameter, the rhythm should feel something like “dah-DUM, dah-DUM, dah-DUM, dah-DUM, dah-DUM.” Here are some examples:

One iamb: I am

Four iambs: I am a man and noth ing more .

Five iambs (iambic pentameter): I am a man who tries and noth ing more

For reference, the opposite of an iamb is trochee, which is a stressed syllable followed by an an unstressed syllable:

One trochee: Noth ing

Four trochees: Noth ing good can come from ly ing

Note that a hard or soft stress sometimes does not correspond to a single syllable and this is perfectly normal. For example, you could write: “I am a cap tain and noth ing more .” There are two syllables after “ cap ” that form the soft stress and this is still considered a line of four iambs (or iambic tetrameter). Thus, a real line of iambic pentameter (such as the eleven syllables in “To be or not to be : that is the quest ion”) will often not have exactly ten syllables. Of course if you use too many deviations then you risk losing the rhythm of the meter.

Also important is the meaning behind the words. The sonnet is generally broken up into the first eight lines (the octave) and then the following six lines (the sestet) with the turn (or volta) in between. In other words, the octave sets up an idea, establishing it fully, and then something changes or something different happens with that idea in those last six lines. It is a small journey. Particularly if we look at the Shakespearean sonnet, the sestet could be further broken up into four lines (quatrain) and a concluding two lines (couplet). In this pattern, our fourteen-line sonnet has three distinct sections, going from eight lines to four lines to two lines. Each section is divided by a factor of two and the second and third sections act to continuously distill the idea of the poet down to its very essence. From this perspective, every single word and phrase needs to be carefully thought over and chosen. Here, there can be no filler words or “yeah I just put that there because it rhymes.” Every letter and comma needs to be working toward the idea and painting it with the clearest colors and most accurate perspective and proportion. Here is the final incarnation of our sonnet Bradford’s painting:

A firm wind slaps me on my boat and face, Waves rolling try to knock me off my feet, And yet the world is lit with rising grace, Which makes my roughshod life seem soft and sweet.

Our ship has not yet raised its measly sail, My mate and I have much hard work ahead, And yet, how calmly forward blows the gale That lifts my soul to where the angels tread,

To where our hearts and minds are freed and cleansed, Expanded by the wide horizon line, To where the softest clouds above ascend Into a color free from Earth’s confines,

Beyond the mighty ships that gather round, Beyond my flesh, which to the sea is bound.

Here are the first four lines with the hard stresses in the iambic pentameter highlighted:

a firm wind slaps me on my boat and face , Waves roll ing try to tip me off my feet , And yet the world is lit with ris ing grace , Which makes my rough shod life seem soft and sweet .

Level 5: So Difficult It’s Easy: The Soundless Sonnet

The ancient Greek philosopher Plato explained that all poetry is a deviation from reality. I have written a sonnet about a guy on a boat. The reality is the boat itself, and the poem is an imperfect and pointless attempt to capture reality. Or perhaps, as Plato suggested, the boat itself is also a deviation from the real boat in the heavens. That means the poem is even further from reality: a deviation from a deviation. The poem is from its first attempt a worse failure than simply getting off your butt and going sailing.

Yet, giving up all art forms is not what I think Plato was getting at. He did support works of art that celebrated the gods and great men. The driving force behind a poem should serve a greater purpose beyond ourselves: something great or divine in nature or purpose. It could be as simple as a birthday gift or a note on a yearbook or as lofty as helping humanity. If there is nothing behind the poem other than our own self-absorbed drive to write poetry and become famous, show off, or feel accomplished, then the poem is, at its very best, unwritten. This is the soundless sonnet, both difficult and easy—which I think Plato hoped he saw more of (meaning, he saw less selfish poetry). This level really works in oscillation with Level 4. Ultimately, it means knowing the right time to write, knowing the lofty and meaningful goals of poetry, and knowing when not to write.

The ancient Code of Samurai, or Bushido, offers some insight on this:

Now then, when it comes to the study of poetry, in accord with Japanese custom there have been famous generals and valiant knights throughout history who have mastered the art of composing poetry. So even if you are a warrior in minor rank, it is desirable to take an interest in poetry and even be able to compose the occasional verse.

Even so, if you cast everything else aside to concentrate solely on poetry, before you know it your heart and your face soften, and you get to look like an aristocratic samurai, losing the manner of a warrior. In particular, if you become too fond of this modern fashion of haikai, then even in the assemblies of reserved colleagues you may tend to come forth with puns, bon mots, and clever lines. It may be amusing at the time, but it is something to be avoided by someone who is a warrior. (Translation by Thomas Cleary)

If we accept the metaphor that life is a battle or war, and we are the warriors, then I think the point here is clear. In my understanding, poetry can never be primary, but only secondary, in the grand scheme of life and the universe. We should continue writing poetry with selfless goals, but know that the greatest poetry has no human words at all.

Evan Mantyk is president of the Society of Classical Poets and a high school English teacher in Upstate New York.

NOTE TO READERS: If you enjoyed this poem or other content, please consider making a donation to the Society of Classical Poets.

The Society of Classical Poets does not endorse any views expressed in individual poems or commentary.

CODEC Stories:

19 Responses

Hey Evan…nice piece here. Just want to note…I use Rhymezone.com myself, and there’s a drop down menu that gives you various options besides rhymes, such as definitions, synonyms, related words, and several other options so that there’s no real reason to use a separate thesaurus site or dictionary…at least I don’t feel the need anyway…again, nice job here…

Thanks, Alan! Good point. Less jumping between windows that way.

A fabulous essay on how to write poetry, clearly from a master teacher: the evidence for the word ‘master’ is in the graded steps that he enables the student to take. There is a lovely, cumulative build to this essay that reveals further and further depths as the complexity of the techniques are applied. Also, there is plenty of insight and wisdom, and I especailly like the remarks citing Plato and questioning what is reality. And on that latter point I would add: “All the world which lies below has been set in order and filled in contents by the things which are placed above; for the things below have not the power to set in order the world above” – Ancient Egyptian Book of the Dead. Well done, Evan, a fabulous article that deserves wider circulation. I shall promote it on my Linkedin profile.

Thanks, James! A great quote. I will have to look into that text.

I really find this website to be a gem in my day. Not sure if you get too many emails so I just wanted to post this here. Can I suggest also adding a twitter link to share along with fb (maybe even G+, tho I don’t know if anyone actually uses it :-). Also, I’ve come to check your website daily for the new poem! I really feel good when I see one. I don’t know if you have a dearth of material, but a publication daily would really be awesome to see. Just wanted to share my comments. Nothing urgent. The main thing: I love your site!

Absolutely praiseworthy. Being a young poet, it is always expected to stray into modernistic free verse. But essays like these ensure that the art of poetry is safe. I have written some sonnets; those clearly match the Level 3 here: 10 syllables per line and abab cdcd efef gg rhyme scheme.

Are syllabic verses considered sonnets?

Evan and all, thank you. I am thrilled to have found this site. With such instructions and instructors, will soon endeavour to write some minor stuff, but not to share, until more practice shows.

Well done, Evan – yet there is something we tend to forget: the beauty of language. While words may rhyme, do they also sing? The English language, like German, is jarring at times with harsh-sounding consonants. June, goon and tune are examples of rhyme, but not beauty. If we could weave the softer hills of verbal constructs into melodic waves with gentle ebb and flow (Keats’s ODE TO A NIGHTINGALE comes to mind), then we will have achieved the true lyric.

Thank you, Eleni! Indeed, there is much more that could be said, and for those who might want to experience Ode to a Nightingale, here is the poem as a well as a reading of it: https://classicalpoets.org/2019/05/02/on-the-200th-anniversary-of-john-keats-odes-a-video-essay-by-daniel-leach/

One of the difficulties for poets i English or German is that these languages are not abundant in rhymes, compared, say, to Italian. I would, however, disagree with you Eleni, that German is not very amenable to singing. the high frequency of dipthongs in English make it more difficult by comparison with the relative predominance of pure vowels in German (and even more so in Italian). German does have a well established tradition of song. In singing, the consonants tend to be de-emphasised, as it is the vowels that ring for the length of the note. I can think of few lyric poets in English who can match Hoelderlin or Goethe — perhaps Ben Jonson in few poems such as ‘Drink to me only’ or ‘The triumph of Charis’. The English poet most renowned for the intimate relationship between words and music would be, I think, Thomas Campion, who was both poet and musician.

BTW: I do not think rhyme is necessary to lyric poetry. One thing that the Germans of the 18th century did was to adapt ancient Greek verse forms to an accentuated language and its poetry. The Greeks had a number of set stanza forms for lyric poetry such as Asclepiads, Alcaics and Saphics. The first two of these as adapted by German poets in the late 18th century, such as Ludwig Hoelthy, have continued in use into at least the mid 20th century. Here is a little poem of mine in Alcaics, a single quatrain, to show something of the rhythmic variation inherent in the form. It has found republication recently.

The sun is set; the cloudscape once softly drawn in gold and rust now fades to a single grey. All glow has gone; the wind bites coldly. Bear with your sorrow: the dawn comes slowly.

Great advice on how to compose sonnet!

I have created an interactive writing tool that might help aspiring poets. It can be found at https://www.rhymedesk.com/desk and it features a syllable counter, rhyming dictionary, and synonym finder.

If you have a spare minute, please check it out.

Thank you, Janis. It seems a useful resource and has therefore been added above. I have someone asking if there is a website or program that counts or displays meter in terms of stressed and unstressed syllables. That would be interesting and useful if you can add that or pass on any leads.

Great advice. Just wanted to mention that there are sonnets with different numbers of lines. “Stretched sonnets” for example, such as Caudate Sonnets, which have a Coda (some extra lines) at the end. When I write sonnets, I prefer 16 lines – I write a sonnet with two quatrains (8 lines, e.g. abab cdcd) then a sestet with a Petrachian chained rhyme (efg efg) and then the coda I stick a rhyming couplet on the end (hh). This way I get all the things I like about sonnets – the two quatrains followed by sestet, AND the rhyming couplet, and the result gives me a number of lines that I actually prefer, as I tend to think in musical terms, i.e. blocks of four. 4 x 4 = 16 (two qautrains then a sestet on their own leave me thinking something#s missing.) I do like the punchy end that the rhyming couplet gives at the end of a sonnet, but I don’t like the way that it doesn’t allow a Petrachian sestet, but by making the couplet into a coda and calling it a stretched or caudate sonnet, I can have my cake and eat it, and I’m a happy bunny. So much so that I actually think of it rather as an “uncompressed” sonnet, rather than a stretched one! Couple of examples below – I think the line number feels right with these, even though it’s 16. Sonnet does indeed mean “little sound” and as such really just specifies that it’s a poem with only one stanza, whether it’s 12, 14, 16, etc.

The Silver Birch: A Sonnet

My gladness of the silver birch I wish To share, that slender goddess of a tree Her shower of silken hair moves in a swish That stirs in me a mystic reverie As turns this verdant, grassy leaf-fringed glade Into her sacred grove, and I, her priest Mid-frisson in the dancing, dappled shade Call druids, bards and ovates to the feast But let us now the details try to trace The little leaves, heart-shaped, serrated trail Along each pliant twig to form a spray That’s bright and airy, made with measured grace Cascading sprays together form the veil That by the gentle breeze is set to sway Her stretch of sky she turns to shimmering show And whispers Summer’s secrets soft and low.

To Chamomile – An Incantation

O soft enchantress of the candle glow, With gentle, caring fingertips caress Our eyelids, with a stroke soothing and slow Dissolve our thoughts in sweet forgetfulness Thou angel of the cup, kind Chamomile, Thy golden tisane, warming, wets the lip We feel the face relax into a smile Then raise the cup and take another sip But how’s the mixture made? First fill the pot And heat the water till the bubbles roar Then add your spoon of flowers and let steep Until the liquid’s neither cool nor hot Now take your chosen cup and carefully pour The potion, and partake before you sleep. While drinking, say aloud or read this spell, Which calms you and by calming keeps you well.

William, in my book, if it is not 14 lines, it is not a sonnet. Otherwise, you might as well call any poem a sonnet. Nonetheless, I think you have hit on something, which is that people are very familiar with the term “sonnet” and for the sake of presentation perhaps “enjoy my sonnet” will go down better than “enjoy my 16-line poem.” To each his own. -Evan

I recently wrote a few of my own Sonnets after reading this article. Would be good to get some feedback, please!

Breath Of Love Let me watch your hair blow in the wind of my mind. Take me to that place where words are of a silent kind. I follow you to the sounds of this Earth, Singing out to unfound places in the universe. Help me find love on this journey, entrapped on this flavoured time. We follow each other through all the pages of these stories, Creating a book which is only written with deluded visuals; Distorted with the age of this wine. Will this book be bound with love or will the pages die? It’s up to us, to complete a memory That defines our love with every test. Because the beginning becomes the end As love takes its last breath.

I’ve written a few more here https://www.paradoxicalvista.org/8-sonnets-about-the-twists-of-love/

Thanks for the great article.

We recommend posting this in our Workshop (remember, it is a good idea to comment on three other poets’ work in return):

https://classicalpoets.org/forums/forums/general-discussion/

This is a great article. It also explained the deviations in meter. I also loved how you gave your interpretation of Plato’s Soundless Sonnet. I try to write as often as I can, I will now think twice before foolhardily expressing myself. Also, explaining the sonnet through your own variations of your sample work is a sound idea.

Very informative site, Evan. Thank you! Would you mind a question? Is it written in stone that a sonnet can only use 10 syllables per line or are you allowed a little play? Wouldn’t rhythm be more important? Thanks for your time.

Brilliant. Learned a lot about writing IP sonnets. Thank you!

Sonnet Definition: What is a Sonnet?

There are many different forms of the sonnet throughout history, including the Elizabethan, Spenserian, and Petrarchan sonnet, among others. Before we delve into what makes each form distinct, let’s analyze what they have in common.

A sonnet is, in brief, a 14 line poem with a “twist,” or volta, occurring in the middle. The volta is essential to the poem, because it reverses or complicates the narrative of the first half of the poem. (More on this below.)

Sonnet definition: a 14 line poem with a “twist,” or volta, occurring in the middle.

Traditionally, sonnet poems have ruminated on love and heartbreak. While many contemporary sonneteers continue to use the form in this way, there are also plenty of contemporary sonnets that explore the political, the metaphysical, and everything else.

To thoroughly answer What is a sonnet? , we need to examine the different restrictions and complexities of the form throughout history. Let’s take a look at this history now, with several sonnet examples.

Different Sonnet Forms: The 4 Primary Sonnet Forms

The sonnet form hails from 13th century Italy and, from its conception through the Romantic Era, was used to express various forms of love . Since then, contemporary notions of the sonnet have been vastly less restrictive in both form and content: a modern sonnet can be about any topic, and does not have to follow the meter or rhyme schemes prescribed in classical forms.

Throughout history, poets have written under four primary sonnet forms. These include:

Petrarchan sonnet / Italian sonnet
Shakespearean sonnet / English sonnet
Spenserian sonnet
Contemporary sonnet

Sonnet Examples Through History

Although strict rhyme and meter schemes aren’t as popular as they used to be, there are still plenty of modern sonneteers who attempt the classical forms. So, let’s example each type of sonnet. We’ll break down the rhyme and meter schemes and give several examples of each form, alongside a history of the form itself.

If you’re not familiar with rhyme and meter, take a look first at our article on poetry forms: What is Form in Poetry? 10 Poetic Forms to Try

1. The Petrarchan Sonnet / Italian Sonnet

Sonnet rhyme scheme: ABBAABBA CDECDE (Note: the rhyme scheme of the sestet varies.)

Sonnet structure: An octet and a sestet.

Meter: iambic pentameter, though sonnets written in Italian often use hendecasyllabic (11 syllable) lines.

Strangely enough, Petrarch didn’t invent the Petrarchan sonnet, he just popularized it, and the term itself actually comes from the Renaissance, several centuries after Petrarch’s death. Also known as an Italian sonnet, this form consists of two stanzas: an octet and a sestet.

The octet should introduce the “problem” in the poem—the romantic conflict as viewed in the eyes of the speaker. This problem is introduced in the first four lines, with the second four lines giving additional exposition and explanation. The sestet then resolves the conflict.

All Petrarchan sonnets have an octet written in ABBAABBA structure. However, there are a lot of variations in the rhyme scheme of the sestet. A few variations include:

CDCCDC (Sicilian)

You might see any of the above variations utilized in 19th century English Petrarchan sonnets, as the Romantics adored this format but often toyed with the sestet.

Petrarchan Sonnet Examples

Sonnet by petrarch translated by thomas wentworth higginson.

When Love doth those sweet eyes to earth incline, And weaves those wandering notes into a sigh With his own touch, and leads a minstrelsy Clear-voiced and pure, angelic and divine,— He makes sweet havoc in this heart of mine, And to my thoughts brings transformation high, So that I say, “My time has come to die, If fate so blest a death for me design.”

But to my soul, thus steeped in joy, the sound Brings such a wish to keep that present heaven, It holds my spirit back to earth as well. And thus I live: and thus is loosed and wound The thread of life which unto me was given By this sole Siren who with us doth dwell.

Petrarch’s poem has several interesting features, which are typical of poetry from the 13th century. He personifies Love as a concept which brings the speaker “sweet havoc,” and he also represents his love as a Siren, who swoops in and resolves the sonnet’s conflict in the last line. The conflict, here, is that the speaker contemplates his own death in the face of Love, but comes to accept it because of the joy that Love has brought him.

If you’re interested in reading more of Petrarch’s poems in translation, you can find 15 sonnets here .

The New Colossus by Emma Lazarus

Not like the brazen giant of Greek fame, With conquering limbs astride from land to land; Here at our sea-washed, sunset gates shall stand A mighty woman with a torch, whose flame Is the imprisoned lightning, and her name Mother of Exiles. From her beacon-hand Glows world-wide welcome; her mild eyes command The air-bridged harbor that twin cities frame.

“Keep, ancient lands, your storied pomp!” cries she With silent lips. “Give me your tired, your poor, Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free, The wretched refuse of your teeming shore. Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me, I lift my lamp beside the golden door!”

You may recognize this poem as being at the base of the Statue of Liberty. Lazarus wrote this poem to raise money for the statue’s pedestal, where it now sits as a bronze plaque. Notice how the poem uses dialogue as the volta, marking a surprising and sudden shift in the poem’s tone, answering the dilemma (who does the statue welcome?) presented in the octet.

2. The Shakespearean Sonnet / English Sonnet

Sonnet rhyme scheme: ABAB CDCD EFEF GG

Sonnet structure: Three quatrains and a couplet, often presented isometrically.

Meter: Iambic pentameter.

Like Petrarch, Shakespeare did not invent the sonnet form named after him—he merely popularized it.

In this format, the Shakespearean sonnet uses 3 quatrains to build the conflict of the poem, with the volta offering some sort of twist or dilemma in the problem itself. Usually, only the couplet is reserved for resolving this dilemma.

This format is also known as the English sonnet, as poets like Henry Howard and Sir Thomas Wyatt preceded Shakespeare and also wrote in this form. However, the examples we include are all written by Shakespeare, as he was, indeed, a master of the form.

Shakespearean Sonnet Examples

Shakespeare sonnet 18.

Shall I compare thee to a summer’s day? Thou art more lovely and more temperate: Rough winds do shake the darling buds of May, And summer’s lease hath all too short a date; Sometime too hot the eye of heaven shines, And often is his gold complexion dimm’d; And every fair from fair sometime declines, By chance or nature’s changing course untrimm’d; But thy eternal summer shall not fade, Nor lose possession of that fair thou ow’st; Nor shall death brag thou wander’st in his shade, When in eternal lines to time thou grow’st: So long as men can breathe or eyes can see, So long lives this, and this gives life to thee.

Sonnet 18 is the most famous of Shakespeare’s poems. The “problem” of the first 12 lines is simply whether the speaker should compare his love to a summer day. The volta in line 9 shifts to how this love differs from a summer day, concluding that her beauty is eternal.

Shakespeare Sonnet 116

Let me not to the marriage of true minds Admit impediments. Love is not love Which alters when it alteration finds, Or bends with the remover to remove. O no! it is an ever-fixed mark That looks on tempests and is never shaken; It is the star to every wand’ring bark, Whose worth’s unknown, although his height be taken. Love’s not Time’s fool, though rosy lips and cheeks Within his bending sickle’s compass come; Love alters not with his brief hours and weeks, But bears it out even to the edge of doom. If this be error and upon me prov’d, I never writ, nor no man ever lov’d.

Another popular poem from Shakespeare, sonnet 116 dwells on the nature of love itself. The speaker argues that love does not try to change others or fight against time; rather, true love is eternal, and accepts the object of the lover’s affection wholly and sincerely.

Other Shakespeare Sonnets

Here are links to some of Shakespeare’s most beloved sonnets:

3. The Spenserian Sonnet

Sonnet rhyme scheme: ABAB BCBC CDCD EE

Edmund Spenser was an English poet writing around the same time as Shakespeare. Naturally, there are many similarities between his and Shakespeare’s sonnets—namely, the exploration of a “problem,” a volta that twists the problem, and a two line resolution.

Unlike Shakespeare, the Spenserian sonnet uses an interlocking rhyme scheme that’s sort of like terza rima : ABAB BCBC CDCD EE . This form is sometimes referred to as a Scottish sonnet, as it became very popular in 17th century Scotland.

Spenserian Sonnet Examples

Since Spenser popularized the form, we’ll include two poems written by him, both retrieved from his sonnet cycle Amoretti .

One day I wrote her name upon the strand, But came the waves and washed it away: Again I wrote it with a second hand, But came the tide, and made my pains his prey. “Vain man,” said she, “that dost in vain assay, A mortal thing so to immortalize; For I myself shall like to this decay, And eke my name be wiped out likewise.” “Not so,” (quod I) “let baser things devise To die in dust, but you shall live by fame: My verse your vertues rare shall eternize, And in the heavens write your glorious name: Where whenas death shall all the world subdue, Our love shall live, and later life renew.

Spenser’s sonnet 75 contemplates the immortality of love in poetry. The poem’s “conflict” is that the speaker’s lover will one day die, her name washing away in the sands of time. The speaker replies that he will immortalize her in his poetry, letting eternity know of his love’s eternal virtues.

This sonnet was retrieved from Gutenberg , which preserves the original spellings of words.

The soverayne beauty which I doo admyre, Witnesse the world how worthy to be prayzed! The light wherof hath kindled heavenly fyre In my fraile spirit, by her from basenesse raysed; That being now with her huge brightnesse dazed, Base thing I can no more endure to view: But, looking still on her, I stand amazed At wondrous sight of so celestiall hew. So when my toung would speak her praises dew, It stopped is with thoughts astonishment; And when my pen would write her titles true, It ravisht is with fancies wonderment: Yet in my hart I then both speak and write The wonder that my wit cannot endite.

In Spenser’s sonnet 3, the speaker struggles to put his love’s beauty into words. Every time he looks at her, he’s blinded and awe-struck, incapable of verbalizing her beauty or his love for her. It’s only when he turns inward and writes from his heart that he can speak and write about her, which emphasizes both her beauty and his genuine love for her.

4. The Contemporary Sonnet

Sonnet rhyme scheme: Variable, often nonexistent.

Sonnet structure: Variable. Many contemporary sonnets are isometric.

Sonnet meter: Variable, often nonexistent.

The sonnet form waxed and waned in popularity throughout Western history. Practically no one wrote sonnets by the end of the Restoration period in England. However, it was revived by the 19th century Romantics, who used the sonnet to teach poets about variations and experimentations in form.

Sonnets in the 20th and 21st centuries have become decisively less formulaic. They generally have 14 lines and a volta, but they generally eschew restrictions of meter, rhyme, and topic.

Contemporary Sonnet Examples

American sonnet for my past and future assassin by terrance hayes.

I lock you in an American sonnet that is part prison, Part panic closet, a little room in a house set aflame. I lock you in a form that is part music box, part meat Grinder to separate the song of the bird from the bone. I lock your persona in a dream-inducing sleeper hold While your better selves watch from the bleachers. I make you both gym & crow here. As the crow You undergo a beautiful catharsis trapped one night In the shadows of the gym. As the gym, the feel of crow- Shit dropping to your floors is not unlike the stars Falling from the pep rally posters on your walls. I make you a box of darkness with a bird in its heart. Voltas of acoustics, instinct & metaphor. It is not enough To love you. It is not enough to want you destroyed.

Terrance Hayes repurposes the terminology of the sonnet form in this visceral and imaginative poem. The speaker transforms “you” (his future assassin / the reader) through a series of metaphors that force us to reckon with the realities of race in America. By locking the reader inside the poem and making a pun on the name Jim Crow, Hayes urges us to consider the enduring legacies of racism—especially readers who aren’t intimate with the experience.

First Alzheimer’s Sonnet by Marilyn Nelson

A wave enters the membrane labyrinth, and something mushrooms from nothing to now. Unacted on, thought disappears from sense like the vapor trail of a skeptic’s awe: Look up, no trace remains. The road to hell is paved with good intentions once conceived of, twice forgotten in a micromill- isecond, cumulus lost on a breeze. What if for a brief moment the flame burns higher, as a thought forms of you, my dear, then passes back into oblivion? Each cloud is a face of the atmosphere, as each wave is an aspect of the sea. Forget you? Never. Not while I am me.

Marilyn Nelson’s poem exposes the Alzheimer’s experience in heart-wrenching, beautiful imagery . Interestingly enough, it’s written in decasyllabic lines, though it isn’t perfectly iambic pentameter. Regardless, that constriction is less common in contemporary poetry, yet it enhances the poem’s painful beauty.

How to Write a Sonnet Poem

The above sonnet examples and analysis show you the mechanics of how to write a sonnet—14 lines, a volta, and ruminations on love or other topics. So, we’ve covered the basics, but how do you write a sonnet?

The following tips will help you turn your 14 line poem into a dazzling, arresting sonnet.

Explore “conflict”
Sharpen your volta
Surprise the reader
Play with form
Use precise language

1. Explore “Conflict”

A central feature of the sonnet form is a core “conflict” or “problem” which the poet hopes to explore and resolve. If you’re unsure of where to begin, start with a central question.

This conflict doesn’t need to be like the conflict in fiction or in movies. Rather, it should be a complex question that needs to be answered in poetry, rather than in prose.

The conflicts from the above sonnet examples include:

How is my love like and not like a summer’s day?
Can I immortalize my love in poetry?
Who does the Statue of Liberty welcome?
What is it like remembering the people you love when you have Alzheimer’s?

With a conflict or question in mind, use the language of poetry to explore what cannot be simply answered.

2. Sharpen Your Volta

A key element of writing sonnets is the volta. This twist in the language and topic of the poem has the power to surprise, delight, and even transform the reader. Moreover, the volta is essential to presenting a complex problem and solution for the sonnet itself to resolve.

What makes for a good volta? Consider the following:

Tone and diction: What can you write that changes the tone of the poem?
Expanding the “conflict”: What is something you haven’t yet said about the poem’s topic?
Opposing “argument”: What does the other side of the “conflict” look like?
Getting to the core of the poem: What do you need to say before the poem finishes?

Take a look at any of the above sonnet examples to see these elements of voltas in action. Remember, the volta will occur somewhere in the middle, depending on the poem and when it was written (but typically in lines 7, 8, or 9).

3. Surprise the Reader

A sonnet’s constituent parts should inevitably surprise the reader. This presents the challenge—and payout—of writing short-form poetry.

With only 14 lines to develop a complex topic in verse, sonneteers inevitably turn to surprising language. Terrance Hayes uses pun and other forms of word play repeatedly in his poetry. Although it’s cliché now, Shakespeare’s poem describing his love as fairer than a summer’s day is a beautiful bit of hyperbole and comparison. Such use of good word choice and literary devices pulls these poems together.

Finally, contemporary sonnets are free to discuss and juxtapose themes outside of love. This is what makes a poem about the thoughts of a speaker with Alzheimer’s, for example, so potent: the reader is able to see the world from an alternate perspective in only 14 lines.

4. Play With Form

If you’ve paid attention to contemporary poetry, you know that rhyme and meter aren’t exactly in style. Modern poets tend to eschew these constraints, unless they’re requirements of the poetry form, such as in the villanelle or ghazal .

While the contemporary sonnet does not have many restrictions, don’t discount the possibilities of rhyme and meter. You might find that utilizing a Shakespearean or Spenserian rhyme scheme will force you to pay closer attention to language. In the classical sonnet examples we give, the reader hardly notices the rhyme and meter: so captivating is the language that the poem’s restrictions feel nonexistent. This could be a great challenge for you, as well: writing a poem with a meter and rhyme scheme without drawing attention to the meter or rhyme.

It is also worth noting, poets have challenged even the convention that a sonnet has 14 lines and a volta. As far back as the 15th century, poets have experimented with the form—the caudate sonnet, for example, is a 24 line poem which tacks on a 10 line coda after the initial 14 line poem. More recently, Gerard Manley Hopkins invented a form called the curtal sonnet, which has 10 ½ lines, like in his poem “ Pied Beauty .”

Such experimentations pose the question: what is a sonnet, precisely? While the answer to that question is outside the scope of this article, feel free to ponder that question yourself as you pay attention to form.

5. Use Precise Language

With only 14 lines to work with, careful word choice is key. Marilyn Nelson’s “First Alzheimer’s Sonnet” is a great example of what word choice can do for the poem. Notice all of the intricate references to thought and speech:

“Membrane labyrinth”—a kenning for a brain with Alzheimer’s.
“thought disappears from sense / like the vapor trail of a skeptic’s awe”
“cumulus lost on a breeze”
“Each cloud is a face of the atmosphere”

These images add up to something ephemeral and intangible. We begin to view the speaker’s thoughts as fleeting clouds in a bright blue sky, trapped in a labyrinthine brain. Such powerful, evocative imagery uses exactly the words it needs to build this extended metaphor: anything less precise than the words in this poem would certainly dampen the poem’s effect.

This, of course, is a consideration for editing. Don’t get too hung up on finding the right word while you’re writing your sonnet. Let yourself freely explore ideas in verse, then edit when you’ve written everything you mean to say.

For more advice on writing poetry, check out our article How to Write a Poem, Step-by-Step .

Learn How to Write a Sonnet at Writers.com

Want expert feedback on the sonnets you write? Perfect your poetry at Writers.com. Take a look at our upcoming poetry courses , where you’ll learn the mechanics of poetry writing and receive instruction from masters of the craft.

Sean Glatch

Wow, this article makes me want to curl up in front of a fire and read sonnets out loud. I’m nostalgic for a time I’ve never lived in, but who’s to say that kind of word-made world can’t be revived?

Slowing down and savoring each word and re-reading for enjoyment and meaning—why not dim the lights and go for it? And then, take pen (or quill) in hand and give it a go…

My favorite Shakespeare sonnet (memorized in high school AP English) is:

Is it thy will thy image should keep open my heavy eyelids to the weary night?

Dost thou desire my slumber should be broken while shadows like to thee do mock my sight?

Is it thy spirit that thou sendst from thee, so far from home, into my deeds to pry?

To find out shame and idle hours in me, the scope and tenor of thy jealousy?

Oh no! thy love, though much, is not so great.

It is my love that keeps mine eyes awake.

My own true love that doth my rest defeat,

To play the watchman ever for thy sake.

For thee watch I whilst thou slumbers elsewhere,

From me far off, with others all too near.

I love how Shakespeare reflects the lover’s jealousy in the last line.

Yes! Bring back the time of horse-drawn carriages and the Bubonic plague! It can’t be much worse than modernity…

I’m glad you enjoyed this article, and very impressed by the memorized sonnet. Many thanks, Julia!

Thius article hath be aboot poetry for whomever be listening gleemfully and with great pride. ok goodbye now

Very helpful.

If you want to know how to write a sonnet, this article will give you some information about the sonnet format, sonnet rhyme schemes , sonnet structures, and some of the rules of a sonnet to get you started. However, it’s ultimately up to you to get started on writing your own sonnets. We will start with a look at some of the different types of sonnets because it is good to know and understand what sonnets are before attempting to write a sonnet. Thereafter, we will move towards some tips to get you started. So, let’s get ourselves started on looking at how to write a sonnet.

Types of Sonnets

There are a number of different types of sonnets, and in the contemporary era, a poet could easily write a sonnet that is entirely their own style. You do not need to necessarily follow any of these specific types of sonnets, but it can be helpful when you’re just getting started to imitate the greats.

It can often be best to first imitate your heroes when you get started in any of the arts, and writing sonnets is no different.

We are going to look at three of the most prominent types of sonnets, but always remember that you do not necessarily have to adopt any of these styles. However, it is worth noting that for a poem to have a sonnet poem structure, it does need to make use of fourteen lines. This is the most basic element of a sonnet. Everything else can be variable. But let’s first look at the non-variable sonnet structures.

Petrarchan Sonnet (Italian Sonnet)

The Petrarchan sonnet is a form of sonnet that is not necessarily all that common in English. There certainly are instances of it being used, but this sonnet type derives its name from Petrarch. This 14th-century poet was an Italian who revolutionized the sonnet in Italian, and while we will discuss him in more detail below, just know that he is the principal developer of this particular type of sonnet.

When it comes to this sonnet, it also makes use of a fourteen-line structure, but the sonnet rhyme scheme, in this particular case, is usually ABBAABBA CDECDE. This particular rhyme scheme does not flow as nicely in English as it does in Italian, but it can still be utilized. There are variations on this particular sonnet rhyme scheme, but this is the standard way in which it is arranged.

As can be seen, this particular sonnet format makes use of an octave (eight-line structure) followed by a sestet (six-line structure), and it is around these two main components that the poem is formulated. The octave generally involves some kind of a setup that is then resolved in the subsequent sestet.

This general structure will be discussed more below, but this is the most common way in which this particular sonnet style is arranged.

Shakespearean Sonnet (Elizabethan/English Sonnet)

The Shakespearean sonnet structure is, by far, the most famous type of sonnet in the English language for the simple reason that it is the sonnet structure that was most commonly used by William Shakespeare. While he was not actually the creator of this particular format, he did revolutionize it. His specific contribution to this form will be discussed in more detail in a later section of this article.

The Shakespearean sonnet structure makes use of the sonnet rhyme scheme: ABAB CDCD EFEF GG. This is a means of arranging the general sonnet structure around a series of four quatrains (four-line structures) and one rhyming couplet (two-line structure). While the octave and sestet system can still be used here as it is used in a Petrarchan sonnet for a setup and resolution, it is more common for a Shakespearean sonnet to reserve its conclusive segment for the rhyming couplet at the end of the poem.

This particular sonnet format traditionally makes use of iambic pentameter , and this was the meter that was used by William Shakespeare. However, this is not strictly necessary. In addition, unlike the Petrarchan sonnet, there is no real variability to the rhyme scheme when it comes to a Shakespearean sonnet structure.

The rhyme scheme is as it has been stated.

Spenserian Sonnet

The Spenserian sonnet structure is not as famous as either the Shakespearean or the Petrarchan, but it is one of the most common rigid forms after these two. It is named after Edmund Spenser, who was another 16th-century poet, although he was older than Shakespeare.

In this particular sonnet poem structure, the rhyme scheme is arranged as ABAB BCBC CDCD EE. Much like the Shakespearean sonnet structure, this type of sonnet makes use of three quatrains and a rhyming couplet, but the actual sequence of the rhyme is distinct from the Shakespearean. It instead makes use of an interlocking rhyme scheme that does distinguish it from the other two more famous sonnet writers.

However, even though these three sonnet styles have been discussed in some detail, it must be remembered that one does not actually need to make use of any of these forms. There is only one question that needs to be adhered to when it comes to a sonnet: How many lines are in a sonnet? If there are fourteen, then it can be classified as a sonnet.

However, there is no need for this form to necessarily entail the use of any of these specific and rigid sonnet formats.

Choosing a Sonnet Form

How does one go about choosing which sonnet form is best? This is a relatively tough question as it does depend on what you want to do. When it comes to a sonnet rhyme scheme, which is one of the main things that distinguishes each of the different types of sonnets, it can be easiest to either stick to a very rigid structure or to create your own.

This is not a simple choice, but it does heavily depend on the individual. Some people thrive within the inherent limitations of a certain form. Some people require structure while others prefer complete freedom, and depending on which type you happen to be, you may find that a rigid versus fluid structure is best for you.

However, for those starting out in the English language, it is often best to make use of the Shakespearean sonnet structure as it allows the writer a large potential number of lines, up to twelve, to establish the primary problem or idea behind the sonnet. The rhyming couplet at the end is an immensely satisfying conclusion to the problem that has been explored up until that particular point. So, for those who are just starting out, it may be easiest to go with the most common form available in the English language.

Crafting the Perfect Rhyme Scheme

A rhyme scheme is typically arranged along an end rhyme structure. This means that each line usually ends on something that rhymes in a certain sequence with other line endings. For instance, a simple line like, “Do not fear /I am here ”, shows the way in which the end of the lines can be rhymed. However, one can also use beginning or internal rhymes. For instance, “ Deer gallop along/ fear in their eyes” or “He has spent my money/I shall vent my emotions”, respectively.

However, it is worth noting that many cannot really hear rhyme unless it’s at the end of a line.

In addition, you can mix up your rhyme. For instance, you could have both beginning and end rhymes. However, when making use of any of the more traditional structures also means making use of the rhyme schemes inherent in them. In more traditional poems, rhyme schemes generally refer to end rhymes only. So, if you want to try something new, then you need to experiment. Experimentation is the only way that you will figure out the way that you personally want to rhyme.

Meter and Rhythm in Sonnets

Meter is the way in which a poem is arranged according to a certain beat. The most common form of meter, which is found in most Shakespearean sonnet structures, is iambic pentameter. This is the way in which a poem will make use of a stressed and unstressed syllable structure. This means that a poem has a certain Da-dum, Da-dum, Da-dum flow to it.

This is an aspect of many poems that can be difficult to grasp or hear. However, there are various types of meter that can be used for various effects. Iambic pentameter is often considered to be relatively basic and standard, but a style that, for instance, instead produced a Da-Da-dum-Da flow could serve as a way to vary the feeling of a poem.

The Volta: Turning Point in Sonnets

The volta is a very common characteristic in sonnets. The volta is a shifting point in the text, and it marks a change in the general tone. The volta’s location can vary, and in the Petrarchan sonnet it is typically after the octave, and in a Shakespearean sonnet, it could be after the octave or after the third quatrain. However, what you need to know about the volta is that it allows for a shift in the feeling and presentation of a poem.

The reason a volta is typically seen as necessary is because without one there would not be a shift from the problem to the resolution. A sonnet, in the typical sense, would start by exploring an idea such as love, but it would then shift in the final section, after the volta, to be about how love can die.

This is not the only way in which a sonnet can be structured but is simply an example.

The reason it becomes important to understand when to make use of a volta is because it can be extremely effective. For instance, in Shakespeare’s Sonnet 130, also known as My mistress’ eyes are nothing like the sun , the tone shifts after the third quatrain. During the three quatrains, the poem can be seen as quite mean-spirited as it describes a woman with very unflattering terms, but the final two lines shift away from that and instead affirm a deep and unflinching love. This late volta allows us to realize, at the last minute, that everything before the volta, despite appearing to be cruel, was part of the beauty.

This is something that you too can master through practice. Now, that example made use of a Shakespearean sonnet structure and so it ended on a couplet, but many sonnets are arranged around an octave and sestet, with the volta taking place after the octave. So, let’s examine them a little before moving on.

Writing the Octave (First Eight Lines)

Many sonnets tend to be structured around an octave introductory segment, and these first eight lines are meant to be the central conflict around which you are exploring an idea. It is in these first eight lines where you will establish the theme, the idea you want to discuss, and the feeling that you are experiencing. This part of the poem can allow you to say whatever you want. Remember the cruelty discussed in Sonnet 130 above? Well, a similar strategy could be adopted.

You are expressing yourself here. You are saying what you feel needs to be said, and then the volta happens.

Developing the Sestet (Last Six Lines)

The sestet follows on from that establishment of the theme or conflict. The volta represents the shift, and the final six lines allow you to resolve the conflict. For instance, you may have immensely negative feelings that you have expressed in your octave, and that’s fine. For instance, imagine a poem in which the first eight lines are about self-esteem and self-loathing, but after the volta, the final sestet allows you to confront and refute those feelings. It allows you to deny and defy the negative. To reassert a positive conclusion. Furthermore, it’s a great way to establish a memorable closing.

Using Imagery and Figurative Language

Imagery is one of those terms that can be somewhat confusing at first. We have all heard the expression that “a picture is worth a thousand words”, well when writing, you need to tell those thousand words. You need to paint a picture with words and describe a figurative environment.

Near the end of this article, we will examine some of the imagery used in a particularly famous sonnet.

If you make use of figurative language, such as through the use of similes and metaphors, then you will be better be able to convey the thoughts that you wish to convey. A picture may be worth a thousand words, but your words could deeply explore the feelings behind the picture in your mind’s eye. Furthermore, a picture in your mind is one unshaped and undisturbed by the real world around us.

Sonnet Themes and Topics

There are many different themes and topics that are often explored in sonnets. When it comes to how to write a sonnet, you do not necessarily have to make use of any specific themes, but here are some of the most common ones:

Love and romance. This is one of the most famous topics that is explored within sonnets. Feelings of love, whether they are true or not, have been adopted in poetry since the beginning. Both Shakespeare and Petrarch were particularly known for exploring concepts like this.
Nature and beauty. This is a topic that was of particular interest to the Romantics. The natural world has often been juxtaposed against the “civilized” one as a means of criticizing the way that humans have oriented their lives around cities while abandoning the beauty and majesty of the natural world.
Time and mortality. This is another of the topics for which William Shakespeare was particularly known for pursuing. The way in which immortality does not actually exist, and how we are all ultimately going to age, decay, and eventually die is a reality of our world. This is a particularly potent topic that has often been explored in sonnets.
Social and political commentary. This theme has often been explored by writers of sonnets and beyond. The world in which we live is one that is often difficult and full of conflict. The sonnet can be a perfect avenue through which our feelings about the human world can be explored.

These are not the only themes and topics that can be explored when writing sonnets, but they are some of the most common ones. So, what will you write about? Will you have your own take on any of these, or do you have something entirely different in mind?

Adding Emotional Depth

It is important to do your best to understand emotion while writing a poem. Poems are not like novels. Novels explore a complex array of themes through characters and continuous storytelling. Poems, and especially sonnets, are often best at exploring a single concept at a time. And you need to do your best to inject empathy into what you create, to try to understand not only yourself but others too. Very little in this world is truly universal, but what you think about and write about may just resonate with others.

So, tell your story from your heart and hold nothing back.

Editing and Revising Your Sonnet

Once your poem is complete, or at least once the first draft is complete, you should not consider yourself to be done. There is still work to do! You need to revise it. Read it to yourself, but it is best to do so out loud. Hear what it sounds like. Make adjustments if any adjustments need to be made. You can also read it to someone or ask someone else to read it. Any feedback that you can receive will be beneficial.

If you are new to writing in general, hearing feedback can be very difficult. However, you should not seek out praise alone. You want constructive feedback. You want constructive criticism. It can be very hard to hear criticism in the beginning, but it’s important to remember that not everyone will like what you have created, and nothing on this earth that is made by people is perfect. No sonnet you write will be perfect. That should never stop you though.

You need to edit your work, seek feedback, and then start over. You cannot write a single sonnet and then be done forever. However, there is still a lot that you can do to improve on your abilities. There are likely other thoughts in your head, other ideas that you wish to explore.

So, try them out! You have nothing at all to lose in this world. And with each poem you write, the better you’ll get.

Prominent Sonnet Writers

We are going to examine only two of the most prominent sonnet writers as they are two of the most important figures in the history of the sonnet. When it comes to writing a sonnet, it can also often be beneficial to understand how the greats wrote their poems, and so we will look at two of the masters before looking at how one might interpret them.

Petrarch: Pioneer of the Italian Sonnet

	Italian
	1304 – 1374
	Arezzo, Italy
	(1330 – 1374)

Petrarch, whose real name was Francesco Petrarca, was an Italian scholar and poet. While he may have been an immensely important figure in the development of the Petrarchan sonnet, he is also considered to be one of the most important philosophers in the early humanist tradition.

His sonnets, predominantly those collected in his Il Canzoniere concern his unreciprocated love for a woman.

His poetry has become some of the most important in the field of love poetry, and a major influence on the use of poetry as a means through which to express romance. There tends to be a view in the contemporary era that poetry is something someone can use for love purposes even though much of poetry has absolutely nothing at all to do with love, but the influence of Petrarch has contributed to that belief. However, let’s now turn our attention to some of the more contemporary views of sonnets.

Shakespeare: The Master of Sonnets

	Elizabethan/English
	1564 – 1616
	Stratford-upon-Avon, England
	(1609)

William Shakespeare was not the creator of the Shakespearean sonnet structure, but thanks to his 1609 collection of sonnets, the format has essentially been named after him. Technically, the type of sonnet that is labeled the “Shakespearean” can also be called the English or Elizabethan sonnet.

However, hardly anyone knows that particular sonnet structure by that name.

Shakespeare was not only famous for his sonnets but also for his plays, such as Romeo and Juliet and Hamlet . However, he has become known as the master of sonnets because of his extensive use of them to convey a lengthy story of two notable sequences concerning his character of the Fair Youth and the Dark Lady.

He used his sonnets to explore themes around love, immortality, mortality, time, and impermanence. His poetry has become an inspiration to sonnets for centuries, and if you wish to learn how to write a sonnet, it may be beneficial to give a few of them a read. You learn by watching the master at work.

Modern Sonnets and Contemporary Interpretations

Sonnets are often considered to be somewhat old-fashioned. When it comes to the contemporary era, many poems tend to shun the rules of all poetry and not only the rules of a sonnet. Free verse has, in many ways, become the ruling king in contemporary poetry as many modern poems do not adopt any rigid structures.

However, while rigid structures may have been swept to the wayside when it comes to much contemporary poetry when sonnets are still adopted, they are often adopted with modern sensibilities. This can often mean that contemporary sonnets may entirely shun the rules of a sonnet aside from the fourteen-line rule.

That is the one rule that determines whether or not something is or is not a sonnet.

However, sonnets such as the one titled Sonnet by Billy Collins is a good example of the way in which contemporary writers may toss convention aside. This poem does not actually have a proper sonnet rhyme scheme, the meter is variable, and it does not conform to the volta structure so often seen in sonnets. It is also not about many of the traditional things that sonnets tend to be about. For instance, it isn’t about love or time but is instead about sonnets. It is a critique and commentary on the very nature of the sonnet as a type of poem .

Sonnets can still be used to this day to explore a variety of ideas, and you should never feel constrained by the supposed rules of a sonnet. There may be rules to certain forms, but you do not need to conform to those rules. Do what you like! Who cares!? If you want to write a sonnet and ignore all the supposed rules, then do so. If you want to make up your own sonnet poem structure with its own special rhyme scheme and meter, then do so. If you want it to be about trees or factories or bodily functions, then do so. When it comes to how to write a sonnet, one of the first things you need to do is decide on what you’re going to write about, and you can write about whatever you want.

A Famous Sonnet Example: Ozymandias (1818) by Percy Bysshe Shelley

	1818
	Non-standard sonnet
	ABABACDCEDEFEF
	Loose iambic pentameter
	Impermanence of power

We are going to look at one example of a sonnet today: Ozymandias by Percy Bysshe Shelley . This is one of the most famous sonnets ever written, and it does not follow a particular sonnet structure. So, let’s give it a very brief look so that we can see some of what it does and why it does that so well. Always remember that you can learn how to write by reading and analyzing. See how the greats do things, and perhaps some of that will rub off on you.

The poem, in general, is about a strong theme. It is about the figure of Ozymandias, also known as Ramesses II. This Egyptian pharaoh was considered to be one of the greatest to have ever lived, and his empire was vast, and his military conquests were numerous. He was a figure who was larger than life, and the poem about him focuses on a statue of him. That statue was once as great as he was, but it has since fallen into decay as it has been thousands of years since it was constructed. The poem is about this impermanence, the way in which the supposed might and power of these grand rulers will wash away with time like everything else.

Already, the poem has a good launching point, but how is it conveyed? It starts with a first-person character, the person writing the poem, but they are not the one telling the story.

The poem, in the second line, transfers to the use of dialogue. The remainder of the text is recorded speech. They are the words of an unnamed traveler. This traveler tells the tale of this once-great statue. They describe the statue. They describe the greatness, the monumental scale of it, and the way in which the face upon the statue was clearly designed by someone who knew the face of the ruler. The poem then describes that face. It has a wrinkled lip as it frowns outwards onto the world. It is a face used to the power. It is a face that expects to be followed and adhered to. It is a face of a man who sees himself as a god.

And the next words describe what is written upon the pedestal of this once-great statue. The words proclaim that he is the “King of Kings” and that all around him is great and powerful. He even warns the “Mighty” to be afraid of him. However, the remainder of the poem shifts from that inscription and instead gazes at the world around the statue. The supposed “Works” that Ozymandias created are long gone. Even his statue is not fully intact. His supposed greatness has been washed away by the sands of time. He is nothing any longer. Hardly anyone knows him. He is not a god, a ruler, a great being. He is a long-dead person and everything he made is gone.

This is one of the most famous non-Shakespearean poems and for good reason. It is a powerful poem and one that has a message to present to us. It reminds us, those who are not great rulers who created grand things, that our accomplishments will also fade away until no one remembers them. The difference is that we probably won’t get a poem dedicated to how we have lost everything. And through reading and analyzing poems such as these, we can learn how to write a sonnet. We can learn how to structure ourselves. A poem does not need to follow the rules of a sonnet, this poem does not, and so why should you?

We often feel that we have little to learn from ancient texts and sources, but there is actually much to learn. You also don’t need to read Shakespeare to experience good and powerful works such as this. You only need to do a quick internet search and find some sonnets to read. The more you read, the more you’ll learn.

And, like Ozymandias, we have come to the desolate conclusion. This article will one day eventually crumble away when the servers vanish, but for now, it shall remain for all who wish to learn a little about how to write a sonnet. We have examined various aspects of sonnets, from sonnet structures to sonnet rhyme schemes and beyond. However, all that’s left for you to do is to try it for yourself. So, give it a go! You never know what you’ll be able to create.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is a sonnet.

A sonnet is a type of poem that makes use of a fourteen-line structure. There are a number of different types of sonnets and they each include their own rules, rhyme schemes, and general structures.

How Many Lines Are in a Sonnet?

This is the only component of a sonnet that is truly non-negotiable. A sonnet needs to have fourteen lines. Those fourteen lines can be arranged in a variety of rhyme schemes and other structures, but so long as there are fourteen lines, then it is a sonnet.

How Many Types of Sonnets Are There?

There are many different types of sonnets. In the contemporary era, there are no necessary rules of a sonnet. Any sonnet could have its own layout, but some of the most common of the more rigid types of poems include the Petrarchan, Spenserian, Miltonic, and Shakespearean sonnet structures.

Who Is the Most Famous Sonnet Writer?

The most famous sonnet writer is William Shakespeare. Or at least this is the case in the English language. This figure became so notable for his use of a specific style of sonnet that it became known as the Shakespearean sonnet. However, Shakespeare is also well known for his plays.

What Is the Best Sonnet Form for Beginners?

If you are writing in English, it may be best to start with a Shakespearean sonnet. This sonnet structure is beneficial because it allows the writer to spend most of the sonnet describing an issue of some kind before allowing the rhyming couplet at the end to serve as some sense of resolution. That rhyming end is also immensely satisfying.

How Do I Find Inspiration for My Sonnet?

Inspiration for sonnets can come from anywhere. However, as sonnets are commonly about emotions and personal thoughts, these can be good places to mine for inspiration. What’s on your mind at the moment? What do you think about? How are you feeling? All of these can serve as means of determining what your sonnet could be about.

Can I Break the Traditional Rules of Sonnet Writing?

You can break practically every rule of writing a sonnet. You can use one of the rigid types of sonnets or create your own. Use an established meter or don’t. Use an established rhyme scheme, your own, or none at all. The only real rule that is always necessary to follow is to use fourteen lines. If you use a different number of lines, then it will likely become free verse, especially if you’re making up your own rules along the way.

Justin van Huyssteen is a freelance writer, novelist, and academic originally from Cape Town, South Africa. At present, he has a bachelor’s degree in English and literary theory and an honor’s degree in literary theory. He is currently working towards his master’s degree in literary theory with a focus on animal studies, critical theory, and semiotics within literature. As a novelist and freelancer, he often writes under the pen name L.C. Lupus.

Justin’s preferred literary movements include modern and postmodern literature with literary fiction and genre fiction like sci-fi, post-apocalyptic, and horror being of particular interest. His academia extends to his interest in prose and narratology. He enjoys analyzing a variety of mediums through a literary lens, such as graphic novels, film, and video games.

Justin is working for artincontext.org as an author and content writer since 2022. He is responsible for all blog posts about architecture, literature and poetry.

Learn more about Justin van Huyssteen and the Art in Context Team .

Cite this Article

Justin, van Huyssteen, “How to Write a Sonnet – An Easy Poetry Writing Guide.” Art in Context. September 7, 2023. URL: https://artincontext.org/how-to-write-a-sonnet/

van Huyssteen, J. (2023, 7 September). How to Write a Sonnet – An Easy Poetry Writing Guide. Art in Context. https://artincontext.org/how-to-write-a-sonnet/

van Huyssteen, Justin. “How to Write a Sonnet – An Easy Poetry Writing Guide.” Art in Context , September 7, 2023. https://artincontext.org/how-to-write-a-sonnet/ .

“I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud” by William Wordsworth – Analysis

Haibun – Journeying Through Prose and Poetry

Birthday Poems – 15 Famous Examples You Should Read

How to Write a Pantoum Poem – An Easy Guide for Beginner Poets

Ekphrastic Poetry – Where Prose Meets Visual Art

Etel Adnan – Painting the Poetry of Existence

How to Write a Sonnet

Last Updated: February 21, 2024 Fact Checked

This article was co-authored by Diya Chaudhuri, PhD . Diya Chaudhuri holds a PhD in Creative Writing (specializing in Poetry) from Georgia State University. She has over 5 years of experience as a writing tutor and instructor for both the University of Florida and Georgia State University. There are 12 references cited in this article, which can be found at the bottom of the page. This article has been fact-checked, ensuring the accuracy of any cited facts and confirming the authority of its sources. This article has been viewed 1,456,921 times.

Though as a general rule, the sonnet is defined as having 14 lines and an iambic pentameter meter, there's a significant difference between the two most common forms of the sonnet: the Shakespearean (aka English) and Petrarchan (aka Italian) sonnets. This article will explain how to stay true to the spirit of each form, then discuss how to explore the expansive possibilities of the sonnet at large through lesser-known forms.

Writing a Shakespearean Sonnet

Step 1 Use the Shakespearean rhyme scheme.

ABABCDCDEFEFGG [1] X Research source
These letters represent the sound that appears at the end of each line.
So, following this pattern of alternating rhymes, we find that the last words of the first and third lines must rhyme; the second and fourth; the fifth and seventh; the sixth and eighth; and so on, ending in a final rhyming couplet.

Step 2 Write your lines in iambic pentameter.

“Pentameter” derives from the Greek word pente (meaning five), and thus has five poetic "feet." Each foot is a unit of two syllables; thus, there are ten syllables in a line of pentameter.
“Iambic” means that each foot is an “iamb.” Iambs are comprised of an unstressed, followed by a stressed syllable, resulting in a “ta-TUM” rhythm. The word “hel-LO” is an example of an iambic foot.
So a line of iambic pentameter is a line of five iambic feet, resulting in a 10-syllable rhythm of ta-TUM ta-TUM ta-TUM ta-TUM ta-TUM.
An example of a line of iambic pentameter is “Shall I / comPARE/ thee TO / a SUM / mer's DAY?” (from Shakespeare's “Sonnet 18”) [3] X Research source

Step 3 Vary your meter from time to time.

For example, the third line of Shakespeare's “Sonnet 18” begins with a spondee, meaning two stressed syllables in a row: TUM-TUM
After two lines of perfect iambic pentameter, he wrote: “ROUGH WINDS / do SHAKE / the DAR / ling BUDS / of MAY”
This both breaks up the rhythm for a little variation and draws attention to the roughness of the rough winds being described.

Step 4 Follow the Shakespearean sonnet's stanzaic structure.

In a Shakespearean sonnet, the three heroic quatrains are the “ABAB CDCD EFEF” portion of the rhyme scheme
The heroic couplet is the “GG” closing.
You can separate these stanzas with blank lines, or leave them all together in an unbroken poem, but the sonnet should move as a function of these discrete stanzas.

Step 5 Develop your stanzas thoughtfully.

Quatrain 1 introduces the situation: Sometimes, when I think about the past, I regret the things and people I've lost. This quatrain uses legal terminology to get the point across: sessions and summons.
Quatrain 2 begins with the transition word “Then,” suggesting that it is connected to Quatrain 1, but moving on to a further development of the idea: when I'm in a nostalgic mood like that, I can cry freely about friends who have passed away or been otherwise lost to me. In this quatrain, he uses the language of commerce to develop the idea: cancelled woe and expenses.
Quatrain 3 begins again with the transition word “Then,” and further develops the idea using the language of commerce (accounts, payment): Not only do I cry, but I cry heavily, as though I've never mourned this loss before.
The closing couplet marks a turn with the word “But,” which suggests that this is not a continuation (like “Then”), but a new thought. There is no resolution to the problem of mourning here, but there is insight into grief and loss: to think of your memory is wonderful enough to make me feel as though I never lost anything. Again, this couplet continues the imagery of commerce (losses).

Step 6 Choose your subject matter carefully.

Note too that because of the top-heavy stanzaic structure of the Shakespearean sonnet, the form does not lend itself well to highly complex or abstract subjects. The turn and resolution must come quickly, in the final two lines, so choose a subject that can be easily resolved with a witty closing couplet.
If you have a more contemplative subject, a Petrarchan sonnet may lend itself better to what you want to say.

Use a rhyming dictionary if you have trouble finding rhymes for the ends of your lines.

Writing a Petrarchan Sonnet

Step 1 Use the Petrarchan sonnet's rhyme scheme.

The octave progresses through a series of examples of creatures and people who are not bothered by restricted spaces.
The progression moves from the most revered element of society to the lowliest: from nuns, to hermits, to scholars, to manual laborers, to insects.
The turn in this sonnet actually occurs a line early, at the end of the octave. Although this is not purely traditional, poets throughout history have experimented with the form and manipulated it to their needs. You should feel free to do the same.
In Line 8, “In truth” marks the volta or turn; now, Wordsworth will give more insight into the idea of being comfortable in restrained spaces.
The sestet suggests that the formal restrictions of the sonnet — with its rhyme scheme, iambic pentameter restriction, and strict octave-sestet structure — is not a prison, but a way for the poet to free himself and “find solace.” He hopes that the reader, too, shares this feeling.
The sestet provides insight that allows us to consider all the people and things in the octave with a deeper understanding.

An example of a Petrarchan sonnet that beautifully manipulates the form to make a point is Edna St. Vincent Millay's "I Will Put Chaos into Fourteen Lines," which is a sonnet about writing a sonnet. Millay employees the Petrarchan rhyme scheme and meter, but interrupts her lines with enjambments (splitting the line in the middle of a sentence or clause) and occasional disruptions of the meter to emphasize her struggle with the sonnet form itself.

Experimenting with Less Common Sonnet Forms

Step 1 Explore proportion through the curtal sonnet.

The curtal sonnet is composed of a sestet with a rhyme scheme of ABCABC and a quintet (five line stanza) of a rhyme scheme of either DCBDC or DBCDC.
Though it appears to be 11 lines, which is a little more than 3/4 of the normal 14-line Petrarchan sonnet, it is actually 10.5 lines; this is because the final line of the curtal sonnet is half a line of iambic pentameter — sometimes even less.
Other than the last line, the curtal sonnet is still written in iambic pentameter.
Hopkins' “Pied Beauty” is a famous example of a curtal sonnet. [6] X Research source Note that the final line, “Praise him” truncates the 11th line to the 3/4 proportion intended by Hopkins.

Step 2 Play with line breaks and fluidity using the Miltonic sonnet.

A Miltonic sonnet has a Petrarchan rhyme scheme of ABBAABBACDECDE, and is written in iambic pentameter.
However, it omits the turn/volta at the beginning of the sestet, and instead emphasizes “enjambment.”
When you break a line or a stanza somewhere that is not a logical syntactic end (somewhere where you'd normally find a period, comma, or semicolon), that line or stanza is said to be enjambed. [8] X Research source An example of an enjambed line is: “God doth not need / Either man's works or his own gifts: who best / Bear his mild yolk, / they serve him best” (Milton, “On His Blindness”).
See Milton's “On His Blindness” for an example of a Miltonic sonnet. [9] X Research source Note how it makes use of enjambment both in individual lines and in the melding together of the octave and sestet.

Step 3 Explore a different type of rhyme pattern using the Spenserian sonnet.

It is composed of three heroic quatrains and a heroic couplet, just like the Shakespearean sonnet. Furthermore, it is also written in iambic pentameter.
However, the rhyme scheme differs from the Shakespearean sonnet in that it is interlocking: The second rhyme sound from each quatrain becomes the first rhyme sound of the subsequent quatrain.
This results in a rhyme scheme of ABAB BCBC CDCD EE.
Contrast that against the rhyme scheme of the Shakespearean sonnet: ABAB CDCD EFEF GG.
The interlocking rhyme scheme results in the three quatrains being closely linked aurally by the repeated rhyme sounds, especially in the transition between quatrains, when the second rhyme of one stanza is immediately repeated as the first rhyme of the next.
Just as the Miltonic stanza explores the relationship between parts of the Petrarchan sonnet by using line breaks and enjambments, the Spenserian sonnet explores the relationship between parts of the Shakespearean sonnet by using interlocking rhyme patterns.

Step 4 Explore shorter stanzas and different rhyme schemes using the terza rima sonnet.

It is still written using iambic pentameter, and still has 14 lines.
However, it has a rhyme scheme of ABA BCB CDC DAD AA. Note that the “A” rhyme from the opening tercet is repeated in the sandwiched ending of the fourth tercet, and also in the rhyme of the closing heroic couplet.
Even more than the Spenserian sonnet, the terza rima sonnet asks you to consider the relationship between the stanzas in the poem, as developed not only through subject, but through sound.
By splitting the first part of the poem into groups of three rather than four lines, it asks you to develop the ideas in each stanza more quickly and concisely.
An example of a terza rima sonnet is Robert Frost's “Acquainted with the Night.” [11] X Research source

Step 5 Experiment with the sonnet form on your own.

Line length — what changes when you write a sonnet in iambic tetrameter (four iambic feet: ta-TUM ta-TUM ta-TUM ta-TUM) instead of iambic pentameter?
Meter — what happens when you abandon the ta-TUM rhythm of iambic meter entirely? Consider Gerard Manley Hopkins' “Carrion Comfort,” which follows all rules of the Petrarchan sonnet except for its iambic pentameter meter. [12] X Research source
Rhyme scheme — what happens when you write the octave of a Petrarchan sonnet in heroic couplets (AA BB CC DD) instead of repeated Italian quatrains (ABBAABBA)?
Does a sonnet need to rhyme at all? Many contemporary sonnets do not. Consider Dawn Lundy's “[When the bed is empty…]” as an example. [13] X Research source

Community Q&A

Try reading every other syllable louder and harder; this makes it much easier to follow the iambic pentameter. You also tap your hand on a table or clap to emphasize the beat of the rhythm. Thanks Helpful 0 Not Helpful 0
Read as many sonnets, of as many different types, as you can find. The more familiar you are with the form, the better you will be able to write your own sonnets. Thanks Helpful 0 Not Helpful 0

how do you write an assignment on sonnet

↑ https://poets.org/glossary/sonnet
↑ https://www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize/guides/zpkytv4/revision/4
↑ https://poets.org/poem/shall-i-compare-thee-summers-day-sonnet-18
↑ https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/52299/nuns-fret-not-at-their-convents-narrow-room
↑ https://www.uiltexas.org/files/academics/bernier_LitCrit_2019_sonnet_lesson.pdf
↑ https://www.bartleby.com/122/13.html
↑ https://liberalarts.oregonstate.edu/wlf/what-enjambment
↑ https://www.bartleby.com/101/318.html
↑ https://poets.org/glossary/terza-rima
↑ https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/47548/acquainted-with-the-night
↑ https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/44392/carrion-comfort
↑ https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/56266/when-the-bed-is-empty-

About This Article

To write a sonnet, make each line 10 syllables long and follow the rhythm of an unstressed syllable followed by a stressed syllable. Then, arrange the lines into 3 stanzas of 4 lines and end with a 2 line stanza. The quatrains should follow an ABAB rhyme scheme, and the last two lines should rhyme as well. When you choose your poem’s subject, keep in mind that Shakespearean sonnets are usually love poems, but could be adapted to any subject. To learn more from our Writing co-author, like how to write a Petrarchan sonnet, keep reading the article! Did this summary help you? Yes No

Send fan mail to authors

Reader Success Stories

Feb 13, 2017

Did this article help you?

May 7, 2020

Maya Roberts

Feb 17, 2017

Vimala Devi

Jul 11, 2019

Jan 30, 2017

Featured Articles

Watch Articles

Terms of Use
Privacy Policy
Do Not Sell or Share My Info
Not Selling Info

Get all the best how-tos!

Poetry Is Pretentious

How to write shakespearean sonnets.

Shakespearean Sonnet is one of the most emulated forms of poetry in the world. There are multiple kinds of sonnets, but this is perhaps the most well known. This form can seem daunting, but it is really quite simple if you just want to have a little fun. Shakespearean sonnets are typically written in iambic pentameter, but for our purposes (having fun) we are waiving that requirement. But props to you if you do manage to nail that!

Rules of the Shakespearean Sonnet

It is a poem of fourteen lines
It is composed of three quatrains and a couplet
The rhyme scheme is ABAB CDCD EFEF GG
There are ten syllables per line (optional iambic pentameter)

Benefits of the Form

Sonnets offer both writers and readers a unique set of benefits and challenges. These fourteen-line poems are historically known for their structured rhyme and meter. This allows writers to convey complex emotions and narratives within a very specific framework. The constraints of the form encourage creativity and precision, pushing writers to innovate within the limitations. This form of poetry is incredibly hard to master but will greatly help your writing by focusing your intent and vocabulary.

Challenges of the Shakespearean Sonnet

However, writing sonnets comes with its share of difficulties. The rigid structure that defines sonnets can feel limiting. The requirement of writers to carefully balance creativity with adhering to rhyme and meter is tough. Ultimately, this should be a fun exercise, so if you want to abandon the hyper-specific meter, be our guest! We do it all the time.

Condensing thoughts into fourteen lines challenges writers to compress ideas effectively, but if you’ve got practice with haiku or other short forms, fourteen lines will seem like a lot! Additionally, finding originality within the established sonnet tradition can be tough, given the exploration of many classic themes. Overcoming these obstacles is essential (and fun) for aspiring sonneteers aiming to create engaging and thought-provoking works. These prompts are based on historic sonnet subjects, so feel free to breathe a little modernity into them!

Shakespearean Sonnet Writing Prompts

Prompt 1 – moving nature.

Write a Shakespearean sonnet capturing the intricate and captivating movements of nature. Explore the changing seasons, the rhythm of the waves, the flight of birds, clouds floating through the sky, or come up with your own example.

Amidst the hues of autumn’s gentle trance, The trees adorned in amber, gold, and red, A symphony of leaves in breezy prance, Nature’s whisper, a tale of seasons spread.

The waves, like ballerinas on the shore, They rise and fall with rhythm’s tender grace, Their whispers carry secrets to explore, A waltz of tides, a timeless, endless chase.

And high above, the birds take flight in song, Their wings a canvas painted ‘cross the sky, A ballet of freedom, they glide along, Upon an azure stage they twist and fly.

In nature’s dance, a world of beauty’s spun, Each twirl, the moon, every step, the sun.

Prompt 2 – Love’s Paradox

Love is one of the sonnets’ most explored subjects. Love is also incredibly complex. There is passion and vulnerability, joy and pain. Craft a sonnet about love and all its mystery.

Upon ever rising trails of moonlight I seek the port in you—ivory crook of skin, an elbow, phosphorescent sight, to moor my soul in, gentle as the brook

Just as that once lonely moon upon fields of black does caress and fondle gently the flowing ebon tide, your warm touch shields the swimmer, struggling in the dark to see

Wild nights, indeed! The stillness abounds but with just you, you alone, we defy— Short intakes of breath, the loudest of sounds Lain entwined in bed, never shut an eye

Together, then, docked in safety of the port We revel in the life we have, too short!

Prompt 3 – Passing Time

Shakespeare wrote dozens of sonnets about the passing of time, and a lot of time has passed since he wrote those, but it’s still a boundless topic of poetry. Create a sonnet that reflects on the passage of time.

The sands of time slip through our grasping hands, As moments weave their tapestry of old, Fond memories persist, like distant lands, A treasure trove of stories to be told.

The years advance, unyielding in their course, and in their wake, they leave a trail of age, Though time is not our enemy, but source, Of wisdom, growth, and imprints on a page.

A photograph of laughter long since past, A gentle touch from someone who has gone, In time’s sojourn, nothing is meant to last, But joyful legacy that lingers on.

Ever forward, time’s passage leaves behind, Quilted fabric of moments intertwined.

Prompt 4 – Enigmatic Dreams

Dreams are often surreal, bizarre, and mysterious; it is one of our few breaks from reality. Write a sonnet inspired by dreams and the subconscious.

In Colorado clouds pass four-thousand feet closer overhead. Their lightning filled bodies pull against my skin. This cloudland of static filled quilts. Pikes Peak waves a chilled

hand & her tall, snow-capped cousins survey sun-beaten, cow filled pastures, their icy eyes watch through translucent windows, I lay sleep takes hold of my travel-worn, timely

eyes. In foreign rooms I am visited by foreign dreams. I stand on cracked shoulders & slake the recycled rain, limited, straight from the source. Little raincloud soldiers

Begin to march on and on–right foot! Left! Until I wake by the sun’s hand, so deft.

Prompt 5 – Cityscape

The sonnet is often depicted by flowery language or dated themes. Modernize it a bit! Craft a sonnet that paints a vivid picture of a bustling city. Capture the sights, sounds, and emotions of urban life, from towering skyscrapers to the cacophony of cars or beyond.

In city’s heart, where lights and echoes meet, A symphony of urban life is played, Skyscrapers stand like guardians of the street, And too-quiet men in their shadows fade.

A thousand faces blend in endless streams, A mosaic of image, colors, sound, Where life’s kaleidoscope of hopes and dreams, Crack wills of those whose perfect life, unwound.

The traffic hums, a steady pulse of life, But sirens wail their lullabies of night, The city’s heartbeat, unaware of strife, Leave sunken chests and eyes without a light.

The city’s serenade, misleading song, Broken backs on concrete, what could be wrong?

Prompt 6 – Celestial Bodies

Create a sonnet that draws inspiration from the stars, moon, and galaxies. Explore the connection between the cosmos and human experiences.

Beyond the veil of night, the stars align, A canvas painted with celestial fire, A language written in the heavens’ sign, A map of stories that the skies inspire.

The moon, a guardian of dreams at night, Its phases wax and wane in mystic dance, A mirror to our hopes and fears in flight, A guide through shadowed realms of circumstance.

Galaxies like love’s eye, vast and unknown, With secrets whispered in their brilliant glow, They sing of mysteries yet to be shown, And tales of eons long gone by, they grow.

Celestial whispers, ancient and profound, A cosmic library where truth is found.

Prompt 7 – Bittersweet Farewell

Write a sonnet centered around the theme of farewells and goodbyes. Reflect on the emotions tied to parting ways with someone or something, and create a sonnet that captures those complex moments.

A buoy, freshly minted, floats by free ‘Do you mind if I play Jimmy Buffet?’ I crack open a beer, ‘that’s fine by me’ Living in a cliche I just love it

Cheeseburger in Paradise plays loudly Singing of American cheese and buns Perfectly describes the scene of cloudy skies, welcoming seas, and the yellow sun

It seems as though he had a song ready For any occasion, we may be in The sun is so warm, the breeze is steady If only this perfect day could begin

But the sun is setting, we say goodbyes Last night of vacation to golden glint skies

Website navigation

Write a sonnet.

Photo by Lloyd Wolf

Step 1: Choose your own sonnet adventure

The world is your oyster! You can write a sonnet…

…on your own. Get typing, or dust off that quill pen.

…with others in your home. Banish boredom around the dinner table or on the couch!

…with friends and family online. Collaborate to write and record yourselves across the miles.

Step 2: Find inspiration

Check out Shakespeare’s sonnets.

Shakespeare's Sonnets

Few collections of poems—indeed, few literary works in general—intrigue, challenge, tantalize, and reward as do Shakespeare’s Sonnets. Almost all of them love poems, the Sonnets philosophize, celebrate, attack, plead, and express pain, longing, and despair, all in a tone of…

More inspiration

Read a poem that pokes fun at sonnets.
Read a poem that refers to the film The Matrix .
Read a poem that plays with pop culture and with Shakespeare, too.
Listen to poet Terrance Hayes read one of his sonnets.

Step 3: Get writing!

Sonnets have been around for over seven centuries, maybe because they’re so much fun to write! A sonnet is a poem of 14 lines that reflects upon a single issue or idea. It usually takes a turn, called a “volta,” about 8 lines in, and then resolves the issue by the end.

Shakespearean sonnets use iambic pentameter and an ABAB CDCD EFEF GG rhyme scheme, but don’t worry too much about all that. Sonneteers have been bending and breaking the sonnet form for ages, so share whatever you’ve got!

Here’s a quick list to help you get started. How fancy you get is up to you!

14 lines (though there are “stretched sonnets” of 15 and 16 lines, too)
A big idea or feeling or issue (like love, or heartbreak, or a problem to be solved)

The next level

A turn, or “volta”—some kind of shift in tone or thought
ABAB CDCD EFEF GG rhyme scheme
10 syllables in each line

Super-fancy sonneteering

Iambic pentameter in some or all of the 14 lines
Final couplet resolves the issue or problem in the sonnet

Try your hand, see how much of this sonnet stuff you want to play with, and no matter what, enjoy the experience of writing poetry.

More about sonnets

Enjoy these selected episodes from our podcast.

All the Sonnets of Shakespeare, with Paul Edmondson

Shakespeare Unlimited: Episode 167 Over 400 years after Shakespeare’s sonnets were first published in 1609, what is left to learn? All the Sonnets of Shakespeare, a new edition of the sonnets published in 2020, takes some bold steps to help…

Billy Collins on Writing Short Poems and Reading Shakespeare's Sonnets

Poet Billy Collins talks about humanizing Shakespeare and other literary titans, delves into his own work and inspirations, and reads from his new collection, Musical Tables .

The Early Years of Shakespeare's Sonnets (16th and 17th centuries)

Shakespeare Unlimited:Episode 136 Did Shakespeare intend to publish his sonnets? For whom were they written? What can they reveal about their author? We talk to Dr. Jane Kingsley-Smith about her newest book, The Afterlife of Shakespeare’s Sonnets, published by Cambridge…

The Long Life of Shakespeare's Sonnets (18th century – today)

Shakespeare Unlimited: Episode 142 Today, we think of Shakespeare’s Sonnets as a triumph. We read them, puzzle over them, and recite them. We compare our significant others to summers’ days, beweep our outcast states, and never admit impediments to the…

Pop Sonnets

Shakespeare Unlimited: Episode 41 There’s something that never ceases to astound when it comes to Shakespeare – the way he continues to pop up in popular culture. Our guest Erik Didriksen takes hit songs from artists like Taylor Swift and Coldplay and rewrites them as Elizabethan-style sonnets.

Writing a group sonnet

Are you a teacher? Use this lesson plan to have your class write a group sonnet together.

Writing a Group Sonnet: Shakespeare’s Sonnets

Lesson plan

Stay connected

Find out what’s on, read our latest stories, and learn how you can get involved.

Poetry Explained

How to Write a Sonnet

Sonnets have a long and important history in English-language literature.

It might seem overwhelming at first but writing a sonnet can be made simpler by breaking down the work into a series of steps. These should help you out if you are first attempting to write your own poems. Before you even start thinking about your own sonnet, one of the best pieces of advice that you can take at the start is to look at sonnets written by authors throughout the last five hundred years.

1 Write down all your ideas/ Consider themes
2 Consider the mood and major themes
3 Consider the various sonnet forms
4 Create a draft
5 Revise your sonnet
6 Get feedback on your sonnet
7 Revise, revise, revise your sonnet

Write down all your ideas/ Consider themes

Congratulations, you’ve decided to take on the far from easy task of wiring a sonnet. This is one of the best-loved poetic forms. You’re engaging with a history of writing that the greats, such as Shakespeare, Milton, and Spenser enjoyed. Getting started is sometimes the hardest part, so it makes sense to start at the source. What do you want to write about? And, why do you want to write about it? The answers to these two questions are going to inform the next steps you take.

A good way to start is to find a quiet space and let your mind drift to your chosen topic and explore all the images related to it. Some of these images might make sense to a potential reader, others might not. You will need to weigh out the proportion of personal information versus the clear contextual details you want to have.

Consider the mood and major themes

The mood is the feeling created by the writer for the reader. It is what happens within a reader because of the tone the writer used in the poem. As you start to write down your ideas, themes, and intentions for your sonnet consider how you want the reader to feel. Should they feel happy after finishing the poem? Is the mood dark, dreary, and depressing?

The mood is created through your use of figurative language , descriptions, and the length of your lines, as well as other aspects. Metaphors and similes are important to consider as they can help your reader understand how you’re feeling about a place, time, or object.

Consider the various sonnet forms

If you are at all familiar with sonnets you will be well aware that there are a few structures that the best-known sonnet writers enjoyed and made famous. The two most popular are the Petrarchan , also known as the Italian, sonnet, and the Shakespearean sonnet . The latter you can sometimes see referred to as the Elizabethan or English sonnet form. These sonnet forms are the most traditional and have been used by numerous poets throughout time. But, that doesn’t mean that you have to.

Since the modernist literary movement , these forms have fallen out of common use. Nowadays, writers are more likely to make use of free verse , within the fourteen-line structure, to make their sonnet.

Traditional sonnets are generally always considered to be made up of fourteen lines. These lines can follow various rhyme schemes (such as those in the Petrarchan and Shakespearean forms). They usually use a standard metrical pattern of iambic pentameter . This means that each line contains five sets of two beats, known as metrical feet. The first is unstressed and the second stressed. It sounds something like da-DUM, da-DUM. Coordinating your major themes and intentions around tour chosen structure is going to likely be the hardest part of this process.

Create a draft

Once you have all your ideas down on paper, the structure you’re interested in solidified and well understood, it’s time to start a draft. In the case of sonnets, which can be complex, it might be helpful to work one line at a time, figuring out which words should go where to make sure the metrical pattern you’re interested in works out.

The first draft of your poem is likely not going to be the last, but don’t let future revisions worry you. Ask yourself as you are considering the structure, rhyme , and themes and what of these are the most important to you. Are you willing to lose some meaning, or struggle with it, by maintaining a structure?

Revise your sonnet

As its time to start revising your poem a great tip is to take the time to consider what the first and last lines of the poem say. Are they necessary? Do they really add to what you’re trying to say? IS there a better way that you could use these first and last lines?

Another very common piece of advice when making any kind of art is to “show not tell” This phrase encourages you to “show” your reader what’s going on or how they should feel, rather than telling them what they should feel.

For example, if you’re describing a person’s emotional reaction you could write “She felt terribly sad”. This is an example of “telling” your reader what’s going on. Instead, “show” them by writing something like: “Her face darkened and she couldn’t contain the tears that rolled down her cheeks”.

It’s common for new writers to use words that first come to mind, these might not necessarily be the best words. Words like “love,” “heart,” “destiny” are just a few examples of cliches that might appear in your poem.

Get feedback on your sonnet

This is one of the most crucial steps in writing a sonnet. There are so many different ways that you can get feedback on your poem after you have a solid draft you’re happy with. There are resources online, such as this very website where we can analyze the work you’ve done.

You also shouldn’t discount the opinions of those around you. While this part of the process can be intimidating, if you confront it with an open mind and willingness to make revisions that truly do benefit you, you’ll find that it’s incredibly important for your development.

Revise, revise, revise your sonnet

Your poem isn’t finished yet! The process goes on! Keep working on your poem and continue to share it with those you trust. Ask them if the changes you’re making are for the best and what they feel while they’re reading.

Home » Poetry Explained » How to Write a Sonnet

About Emma Baldwin

Experts in poetry.

Our work is created by a team of talented poetry experts, to provide an in-depth look into poetry, like no other.

Cite This Page

Baldwin, Emma. "How to Write a Sonnet". Poem Analysis , https://poemanalysis.com/poetry-explained/write-a-sonnet/ . Accessed 7 September 2024.

Help Center

Request an Analysis

(not a member? Join now)

Poem PDF Guides

PDF Learning Library

Beyond the Verse Podcast

Poetry Archives

Poet Biographies

Useful Links

Poem Explorer

Poem Generator

[email protected]

Poem Solutions Limited, International House, 36-38 Cornhill, London, EC3V 3NG, United Kingdom

(and discover the hidden secrets to understanding poetry)

Get PDFs to Help You Learn Poetry

250+ Reviews

Article Categories

Book categories, collections.

Academics & The Arts Articles
Language & Language Arts Articles
Literature Articles

How to Write a Sonnet

Poetry for dummies.

Sign up for the Dummies Beta Program to try Dummies' newest way to learn.

How to write a sonnet

Select a subject to write your poem about (Shakespearean sonnets are traditionally grounded as love poems).
Write your lines in iambic pentameter (duh-DUH-duh-DUH-duh-DUH-duh-DUH-duh-DUH.
Write in one of various standard rhyme schemes (Shakespearean, Petrarchan, or Spenserian).
Format the sonnet using 3 quatrains followed by 1 couplet.
Compose your sonnet as an argument that builds up as it moves from one metaphor to the next.
Ensure your poem is exactly 14 lines.

The Shakespearean rhyme scheme

Every A rhymes with every A, every B rhymes with every B, and so forth. You'll notice this type of sonnet consists of three quatrains (that is, four consecutive lines of verse that make up a stanza or division of lines in a poem) and one couplet (two consecutive rhyming lines of verse).

How a sonnet tells a story

First quatrain: An exposition of the main theme and main metaphor.

Second quatrain: Theme and metaphor extended or complicated; often, some imaginative example is given.

Third quatrain: Peripeteia (a twist or conflict), often introduced by a "but" (very often leading off the ninth line).

Couplet: Summarizes and leaves the reader with a new, concluding image.

Shall I compare thee to a summer's day? Thou art more lovely and more temperate. Rough winds do shake the darling buds of May, And summer's lease hath all too short a date.

Sometime too hot the eye of heaven shines, And often is his gold complexion dimmed; And every fair from fair sometime declines, By chance, or nature's changing course, untrimmed;

But thy eternal summer shall not fade, Nor lose possession of that fair thou owest, Nor shall death brag thou wanderest in his shade, When in eternal lines to time thou growest.

So long as men can breathe or eyes can see, So long lives this, and this gives life to thee.

First quatrain: Shakespeare establishes the theme of comparing "thou" (or "you") to a summer's day, and why to do so is a bad idea. The metaphor is made by comparing his beloved to summer itself.

Second quatrain: Shakespeare extends the theme, explaining why even the sun, supposed to be so great, gets obscured sometimes, and why everything that's beautiful decays from beauty sooner or later. He has shifted the metaphor: In the first quatrain, it was "summer" in general, and now he's comparing the sun and "every fair," every beautiful thing, to his beloved.

Third quatrain: Here the argument takes a big left turn with the familiar "But." Shakespeare says that the main reason he won't compare his beloved to summer is that summer dies — but she won't. He refers to the first two quatrains — her "eternal summer" won't fade, and she won't "lose possession" of the "fair" (the beauty) she possesses. So, he keeps the metaphors going, but in a different direction.

And for good measure, he throws in a negative version of all the sunshine in this poem — the "shade" of death, which, evidently, his beloved won't have to worry about.

Couplet: How is his beloved going to escape death? In Shakespeare's poetry, which will keep her alive as long as people breathe or see. This bold statement gives closure to the whole argument — it's a surprise.

Poets are attracted by the grace, concentration, and, yes, the sheer difficulty of sonnets. You may never write another sonnet in your life, but this exercise is more than just busywork. It does all the following:

Shows you how much you can pack into a short form.

Gives you practice with rhyme, meter, structure, metaphor, and argument.

Connects you with one of the oldest traditions in English poetry — one still vital today.

About This Article

This article is from the book:.

Poetry For Dummies ,

About the book authors:

The Poetry Center in San Francisco sponsors readings and awards and houses a renowned poetry archive. John Timpane, Ph.D., is the author of It Could Be Verse: Anybody's Guide to Poetry . Maureen Watts is a writer and longtime poetry activist who serves on the board of the National Poetry Association

This article can be found in the category:

Literature ,
Poetry For Dummies Cheat Sheet
Snuggling Up to the Language of Poetry
Quick Poetry Quiz
How to Read a Poem Aloud
A Crash Course in Poetic History
View All Articles From Book

Willow Tenny
Writing Prompts
Writing Tools
Shop For Articles

How to Write a Sonnet

Table of Contents

Are you feeling poetical? Are you struggling to pen a Petrarchan or Shakespearean sonnet that will make the ladies swoon? Fear not, intrepid wordsmith! This guide teaches you how to write a sonnet. Let’s get started!

What is a sonnet?

A sonnet is a 14-line poem that follows a strict rhyme scheme and iambic pentameter meter. The sonnet form was invented in the 13th century by the Italian poet Giacomo da Lentini, though the term “sonnet” wasn’t used to describe it until the 16th century.

Shakespeare popularized the form in English with his famous 154-sonnet sequence, which includes some of the most well-known poems.

Today, sonnets are still written in various languages and generally convey a deep emotional connection between the speaker and their subject. Above all, they are intended to be beautiful works of art that can be enjoyed for centuries.

50 Things to Write About When Bored: Time To Get Excited

Three main types of sonnets.

The Petrarchan sonnet , also known as the Italian sonnet, is the kind most commonly associated with love poetry. It is named after its creator, the fourteenth-century Italian poet Francesco Petrarca. Petrarchan sonnets typically feature two quatrains (four-line stanzas) followed by two tercets (three-line stanzas), with the volta occurring between the eighth and ninth lines. The rhyme scheme is usually abbaabba cdecde or abbaabba cdcdcd.

The Shakespearean sonnet , also known as the English sonnet, is perhaps the best-known type of sonnet in the English-speaking world. It was popularized by none other than William Shakespeare himself, who wrote 154 of them! Shakespearean sonnets follow a different structure to Petrarchan sonnets: three quatrains followed by a couplet, with the volta coming after the eighth line. The rhyme scheme is usually abab cdcd efef gg.

The Spenserian sonnet takes its name from Edmund Spenser, a sixteenth-century English poet best known for his epic poem The Faerie Queene. Spenserian sonnets are similar to Shakespearean sonnets, but with a slightly different rhyme scheme: abab bcbc cdcd ee. The volta also generally occurs between the ninth and tenth lines, rather than the eighth and ninth.

Others have read: How to Write a Love Song: A Step-By-Step Guide

Sonnet examples

Sonnets are one of the most well-known and beloved forms of poetry in the literary world. Whether expressed through a playful rhyme scheme or a poignant message, a sonnet has the power to convey deep emotion and resonate with readers for years to come.

One of the most compelling examples of a sonnet is Maya Angelou, who expressed her love for God through vivid imagery and dignified language. In her poem “When You Come,” she describes the sun as “a rose gold flame” that warms her heart and calls out to her soul:

In golden light, I saw my god, resplendent with radiance strong. His mighty hand reached out and called me home, his glory bright like the dawn.

Thus transformed by his divine embrace, my body warm within his arms, secure in him, i sing this final adieu to sorrows left below at long last free! His endless spirit now lives on in me…Forever poetically this soul shall soar upon wings divine.

We can see just how powerful and profound a sonnet can be through this moving depiction of nature’s majesty. Whether simple or complex, it taps into the deepest parts of our hearts and reveals our most genuine feelings.

So if you are looking to express your own passions, struggles, or emotions through poetry, consider writing a sonnet! With its strict rhyme scheme and iambic pentameter metre, this classic form of poetry can help you create a work of art that will delight and inspire readers for years to come.

Also related: How to Write Manifestations

How to write a sonnet

A sonnet is a 14-line poem with a specific rhyme scheme. It is traditionally written in iambic pentameter, which means each line has 10 syllables with the stress falling on every second syllable.

There are two main types of sonnets: the Petrarchan sonnet, which is divided into an 8-line octave and a 6-line sestet, and the Shakespearean sonnet, which is divided into three quatrains and a couplet. The Shakespearean sonnet is the most common type of sonnet in English. If you want to write a sonnet, follow these steps:

1) Choose a subject for your sonnet. This could be something you feel strongly about or something that has personal meaning for you.

2) Decide what kind of sonnet you want to write. As mentioned above, there are two main types of sonnets: the Petrarchan and the Shakespearean. If you’re unsure which one to choose, try writing one of each to see which style suits your voice and subject best.

3) Start by drafting the octave (the first 8 lines). This should introduce your subject and set up the problem or tension that you want to explore in your poem.

4) Next, write the sestet (the final six lines). This is where you will resolve the problem or tension from the octave and explore the deeper themes or ideas in your poem.

5) When you are done writing, go back and revise and edit your sonnet for clarity, imagery, and tone. Remember to use precise language that evokes strong emotion and creates a vivid picture in the reader’s mind.

6) Lastly, share your finished sonnet with the world! You can submit it to publications, post it online, or share it with your friends and family.

Sonnets are still written in various languages and convey a deep emotional connection between the speaker and their subject. Above all, they are intended to be beautiful works of art that can be enjoyed for centuries to come. So if you want to create your own masterpiece, start writing a sonnet today!

An interesting read: How To Write Playful Banter

Sonnet tips

Writing a sonnet can be a fun and challenging exercise, and keep a few tips in mind if you want to create effective and beautiful verse.

First, you need to be sure that your subject matter is worthy of the form. This means choosing topics that are meaningful or thought-provoking rather than just simple reflections on everyday experiences.

Secondly, aim for a variety of imagery throughout your sonnet.

Use colorful, descriptive language to convey different moods and emotions, and take time to play around with poetic devices such as metaphors and alliteration.

And finally, remember that it is okay to experiment with structure. Whether you choose to stick with the traditional iambic pentameter or try out new patterns of rhyme and rhythm, never be afraid to push the boundaries of traditional sonnets. With these tips in mind, you’ll be well on your way toward writing powerful and memorable poetry!

Take a look: How to Write a Fairy Tale

Sonnet resources

Shakespeare’s Sonnets – This website provides a complete analysis of Shakespeare’s sonnets, with each one conveniently numbered and searchable by subject matter. If you’re looking better to understand the language and form of the sonnet, this is a great resource.

Sonnet Central – This website collects sonnets from a variety of poets, both classic and contemporary. You can browse by poet or theme, making it easy to find sonnets that speak to you. There are also several resources for writing your sonnets if you feel inspired.

The Sonnet Board – This online forum is a great place to discuss all things sonnets, from favorite poems to tips for writing your own. You can also find links to poetry contests and other opportunities here. Whether you’re a seasoned pro or just getting started, the Sonnet Board is an excellent resource for anyone interested in this versatile and timeless form.

The best way to learn about sonnets is to read as many as possible. Start with the greats like Shakespeare and Donne , then branch out to modern poets like Maya Angelou and Anne Sexton .

As you read, pay attention to how the poets use language to create mood and meaning. Also, notice how the strict structure of the sonnet can either enhance or hinder the overall effect. With time and practice, you’ll be able to write sonnets of your own that are both beautiful and powerful.

Another article to read: 15 Memoir Writing Tips for Beginners: Secrets to a Bestseller

How many couplets are in a Sonnet?

There is one couplet in a sonnet. The couplet serves as the final lines of both the octave and sestet, providing a resolution or conclusion to the poem. It is also where more abstract themes or ideas are explored in greater depth. Additionally, some sonnets may only have three quatrains, with no couplet.

How many feet are in a Sonnet?

There are five feet in a sonnet. The most common meter is iambic pentameter, which means there are five iambic feet per line. Iambic pentameter is often considered the natural rhythm of speech, and it gives the sonnet a flowing, conversational quality. However, there are many varieties of a sonnet that use different types of meter, so feel free to experiment and find a rhythm that works for your poem.

What is a Petrarchan Sonnet?

A Petrarchan sonnet is a type of sonnet that originated in Italy during the Renaissance. It is named after the poet Petrarch, who popularized this form of poetry.

Petrarchan sonnets are divided into two stanzas: an octave (eight lines) and a sestet (six lines).

The octave contains the problem or question, while the sestet offers a resolution or conclusion. Additionally, Petrarchan sonnets have a strict rhyme scheme of abbaabba cdecde.

Can a Sonnet have 15 Lines?

Yes, a sonnet can have 15 lines. This is known as an extended or Shakespearean sonnet, and it is the most common type of sonnet today. Shakespearean sonnets consist of three quatrains (four lines each) followed by a couplet (two lines).

The rhyme scheme is usually abab cdcd efef gg, although some variations are common. With its longer length and more complex rhyme scheme, the Shakespearean sonnet is often considered the most challenging form of poetry. However, you can master this versatile poetic form with practice and patience.

Do Sonnets have Stanzas?

Sonnets typically have stanzas, although there are some exceptions. Stanzas help to divide the poem into manageable sections and can also create a sense of rhythm or meter.

The most common type of sonnet is the Shakespearean sonnet, which has three quatrains (four lines each) followed by a couplet (two lines). However, there are many other variations of sonnets that use different numbers and types of stanzas.

What is the difference between a Sonnet and a Haiku?

The main difference between a sonnet and a haiku is the length and structure of each poem. A sonnet is typically 14 lines long and follows a specific rhyme scheme and meter, while a haiku is much shorter, usually only three lines.

Additionally, sonnets are more complex in terms of theme and language, exploring deeper themes through rich imagery and metaphors. On the other hand, Haiku are typically more simplistic, focusing on one image or moment in time.

What is the difference between a Sonnet and a Limerick?

The main difference between a sonnet and a limerick is their respective structures.

A sonnet is a 14-line poem that follows a specific rhyme scheme and meter, while a limerick is a five-line poem with a more irregular rhyme scheme. Additionally, sonnets are typically more formal and serious in tone, while limericks often have a more light-hearted or humorous manner.

What is the difference between a Sonnet and an Ode?

An ode is a poem that typically expresses deep admiration or praise for a person, object, idea, or concept. A sonnet is also a poem, but it is shorter and more structured than an ode. Sonnets have a specific rhyme scheme and meter, while odes do not necessarily follow any particular rules or conventions.

Additionally, odes are typically more personal in nature, while sonnets are often more universal and can be about a wide range of topics. Ultimately, the choice to write an ode or a sonnet depends on your preferences and goals as a poet.

How to Write an Autobiography in 6 Easy Steps

How to write a backstory.

When it comes to writing, Willow Tenny is a true pro. She has a wealth of experience in SEO copywriting and creative writing, and she knows exactly what it takes to produce quality content. On her blog, Willow Writes, Willow shares top writing strategies with both beginners and experienced writers.

Symbolism in writing: enhancing your literary work.

Sharper Words, Bigger Impact: A Writer’s Guide to Pointed Copywriting

Crafting Poems with an Allusion: Enhance Your Verse

Protagonist vs Antagonist: Story Roles Explained

Novel vs Book: Key Differences Explained

Exploring Situational Archetypes in Literature

So Mote It Be: A deeper look into the meaning and usage of this phrase.

How to Write in 3rd Person About Yourself

This blog post will explain how to write a personal narrative by exploring how to craft engaging personal narratives, drawing on your own experiences and emotions.

How to Write a Personal Narrative [in 10 Easy Steps]

While some prefer a more formal, scholarly tone, others enjoy adopting a more conversational style writing approach

Conversational Style Writing Examples

Writing Tips

Literary Terms
When & How to Write a Sonnet
Definition & Examples

How to Write a Sonnet

In order to write a sonnet, it is important to be aware of form constraints. For this example, let’s try the English sonnet.

Begin with your subject. The most classic subject for an English sonnet is romantic love.
Plot your rhyme scheme.

Create lines within this rhyme scheme which use iambic pentameter, or ten syllables.

A My love, I yearn to be near you today. B The distance between us is just too much A for my soul to reach you so far away. B If you were here, you would know my soft clutch. C I’d build a ship to cross the ocean blue, D sailing through tempests, rough seas, expanses C if it meant I could at last get to you D and then receive your loving and kind kiss.

E But because I cannot build a strong ship F this poorly written poem’ll have to do. E I hope your image of me will not dip F or that you will then decide we are through G upon reading my attempt at a sonnet G which lacks beauty like yours but has some wit.

Writing a sonnet can be time-consuming and difficult with syllable-counting and rhyming, but it can also be a fun way to express yourself.

When to Use Sonnets

Sonnets have historically been used for a wide variety of tasks. Sonnets have been used to record and comment on history, compliment and court lovers, examine political ideas, express religious devotion or questioning, and describe and celebrate the world and nature. Today, sonnets are traditionally known as a common form of romantic poetry used to flatter and celebrate loved ones. As a poetic form, the sonnet can be used to examine numerous subjects and ideas.

List of Terms

Alliteration
Amplification
Anachronism
Anthropomorphism
Antonomasia
APA Citation
Aposiopesis
Autobiography
Bildungsroman
Characterization
Circumlocution
Cliffhanger
Comic Relief
Connotation
Deus ex machina
Deuteragonist
Doppelganger
Double Entendre
Dramatic irony
Equivocation
Extended Metaphor
Figures of Speech
Flash-forward
Foreshadowing
Intertextuality
Juxtaposition
Literary Device
Malapropism
Onomatopoeia
Parallelism
Pathetic Fallacy
Personification
Point of View
Polysyndeton
Protagonist
Red Herring
Rhetorical Device
Rhetorical Question
Science Fiction
Self-Fulfilling Prophecy
Synesthesia
Turning Point
Understatement
Urban Legend
Verisimilitude
Essay Guide
Cite This Website

Benefits to Participating Communities
Participating School Districts
Evaluations and Results
Recognition Accorded
National Advisory Committee
Establishing New Institutes
Topical Index of Curriculum Units
View Topical Index of Curriculum Units
Search Curricular Resources
View Volumes of Curriculum Units from National Seminars
Find Curriculum Units Written in Seminars Led by Yale Faculty
Find Curriculum Units Written by Teachers in National Seminars
Browse Curriculum Units Developed in Teachers Institutes
On Common Ground
Reports and Evaluations
Articles and Essays
Documentation
Video Programs

Have a suggestion to improve this page?

To leave a general comment about our Web site, please click here

Share this page with your network.

Studying the Sonnet: An Introduction to the Importance of Form in Poetry

Although this curriculum unit will focus on the sonnet and its history from Petrarch to contemporary times, two core objectives have guided its development. The first objective is to introduce the concept of form in poetry and its importance to the poem's overall impact. The second objective is to create a framework that enables students to experience success in the close reading of poetry. The decision to write this unit stemmed from an awareness that many middle school students lack experience in both of these areas.

I teach eighth graders in an urban middle school, and so had my own students in mind when creating this unit. However, most of what is presented is appropriate for other middle school grades as well as for high school. I teach both an eighth grade regular Communications class (our terminology for language arts) and an eighth grade Creative Writing class. In addition, I plan to start an after school poetry club next year. This unit is appropriate for all three situations. Because my eighth graders have responded so positively to poetry study in the past, and because I believe that the study of poetry provides a strong foundation for the study of other literary forms, I hope to find time for poetry study each week during the school year. This unit will be a part of the year long emphasis on poetry. The unit itself should cover seven one hour class periods, but teachers will find many ways to extend or limit its scope.

What is Form and Why Teach It?

Middle school students in my classroom have always responded positively to the study of contemporary free verse poetry and to opportunities for writing this type of poetry. I have found ways to help them develop an understanding and even an intimacy with many poetic elements, especially image, metaphor, tone, and theme. Before writing this unit, I attempted to think through why I and so many teachers at my level avoid the discussion of form in poetry. First of all, the very notion of form sounds restrictive and my students already resist the idea that there is a craft to be learned when writing poetry. I thought that the notion of form might inhibit their poetry writing even more. The very idea of too many "rules" seemed stifling and frustrating. Secondly, I have avoided teaching the importance of form because I lacked an understanding of its relevance to meaning and the overall impact of the poem. Finally, I have avoided dealing with the concept of form, and especially specific structures, because form always seemed out of fashion in the world of contemporary poets, which is essentially the world I am familiar with.

As my own experiences with poetry widened and my understanding of poetry matured, I began to understand that even in the free verse that my students love, form is an extremely important element of the poem. All of the negatives related to teaching about form in the middle school classroom mentioned in the previous paragraph seem now to be less important. I really believe that the concept of form can be presented to students in a non-threatening way, without repression of creativity. Concerning my second anti-form notion, later in this curriculum unit I will discuss more fully the concept of form affecting the overall impact of the poem. Regarding the "out of fashion" argument, I am beginning to hear of many young contemporary poets becoming interested in form, even specific forms from our poetic history. A final reason for placing more emphasis on form in my classroom is that some of my students demonstrate a real affinity for rhyme and form. I have had students who could write with a fair amount of ease a sonnet, a sestina, or beautifully rhymed couplets. I never quite knew what to make of these students and now I feel I have a better respect for their approach to poetry.

So what is form in poetry? The term form in its most general sense means structure. We use the word form to relate to buildings, natural phenomenon, as well as to the shaping of ideas. Our understanding of the word in these contexts is connected to the use of the word in regards to poetry. It is the architecture of the poem. We have all heard of specific structures and historical forms of poetry such as blank verse, couplets, tercets, quatrains, sonnets, villanelles, and sestinas. But the term form is also used to refer to other elements of poetry that exist within poems such as cadence, meter, tropes, play on words, stanza, rhyme, and line.

The idea that writers of free verse employ form is confusing to many students because they are so used to regarding form as a regulated and specific structure. Contemporary scholars of poetry sometimes use the terminology "open form" instead of "free verse," to acknowledge that free verse also has form. Free verse may have freedom from traditional meter or versification, but the line and variations on enjambment are extremely important. Paul H. Fry, in a Yale New Haven Teachers Institute called Reading Poetry of All Kinds: Pictures, Places and Things, People, explained that a poet ends a line because a unit of meaning has been created. In free verse the tension between what the line says and what the sentence says is of utmost importance.

Cleanth Brooks and Robert Penn Warren, in Understanding Poetry, remind us that "no form-no poem" (1976, p. 560). W.H. Auden said, "In poetry you have a form looking for a subject and a subject looking for a form. When they come together successfully you have a poem." Frances Mayes, in her book The Discovery of Poetry, (2001, p. 302) states that the poem's form and content are "interactive systems…The form of a good poem occurs simultaneously with the meaning, not as a separate phenomenon." These three passages could be mounted in the classroom as a reminder to students that form is not an element to be taken lightly.

Given my new understanding of the importance of form to all poetry, why did I decide to use a study of the sonnet to introduce students to this concept? Most importantly, when reading sonnets, it should be fairly easy for students to make inferences about the effect of the structure on the overall poem. But there are other reasons for choosing the sonnet. The sonnet's structure is straightforward and easily grasped. The sonnet has lasted for centuries and examples proliferate. Later in the unit, in the section called The Sonnet's Structure, reasons for this popularity are discussed. There are interesting models throughout history of adaptations made to the sonnet's form. The sonnet is an important poetic form for basic cultural literacy. Plus, studying the sonnet and writing sonnets can be just plain fun for students.

The major objectives of this unit have been alluded to in earlier sections of the overview and rationale, but I will attempt to outline them here in more specific and behavioral language. I will also discuss a few other categories of objectives that this curriculum addresses.

The first objective is to introduce the concept of form in poetry and its importance to the poem's overall impact and how it aids in communicating the poem's message. By gaining an understanding of the impact of the sonnet's form, students will be open to and on the lookout for form in other poems.

There are several objectives related to the study of the sonnet specifically. The most basic is that students will learn the rhyme schemes and formal structures of both the Petrarchan and Shakespearean sonnets. Students will be able to distinguish between the two forms when reading sonnets. Students will have some sense of the long history of the sonnet and will place various sonnets and sonnet writers on a timeline. Students will be able to articulate qualities of the sonnet that go beyond structure.

Another general area of objectives relates to close reading or explication of poetry. Although the overriding theme of this curriculum is form, students will also be asked to interpret the poems generally. Until recently, all of my energies concerning the reading of poetry with middle school aged children focused on making poetry accessible and non-threatening. I did insist that students use textual evidence to support their interpretations and always attempted to use the language of poetry in discussions. Recently, I have tried to incorporate even more vocabulary and formal interpretive models into discussion formats. This is in response to clearer guidelines given by the state of Pennsylvania regarding expectations. It is also a nod to the idea that many of my students will be involved in AP courses in high school and early exposure to the kinds of rigorous poetic interpretations required in those classes can only be beneficial. Two objectives concerning reading and interpreting poetry are: students will build and use a vocabulary of poetic terms and students will use textual evidence to support interpretations of poetry.

A final general area of objectives relates to the writing of poetry. When students write their own sonnets they will gain a more intimate relationship with the form. The writing of original poetry meets many objectives for adolescents related to literacy, aesthetic development, and awareness of self and the world. In the category of literacy, writing poetry helps students in all genres of writing. Through writing poetry students will gain an understanding of the importance of careful and deliberate word choice. Students will learn to play with phrase construction, and learn that lines and sentences need careful attention. By writing poetry students will increase their fluency and develop metaphorical thought processes. When writing poetry young writers will take chances and risks, which will strengthen all of their writing. Adolescent poets will not only polish skills of observation as they examine the external world, but will connect with their inner worlds as well. When writing poetry students access their intellects and emotions at the same time.

Pittsburgh Public Schools Standards

This unit addresses several standards that have been set forth by the Pittsburgh Public Schools in the category of Reading, Writing, Speaking and Listening. All students read and use a variety of methods to make sense of various kinds of complex text. All students respond orally and in writing to information and ideas gained by reading narrative and informational texts and use the information and ideas to make decisions and solve problems. All students write for a variety of purposes, including to narrate, to inform, and to persuade. All students exchange information orally, including asking and answering questions appropriately and promoting effective group communications.All students compose and make oral presentations for each academic area of study.

History and Structure of the Sonnet

History of the sonnet.

Even though we think of the sonnet as the great traditional English form, it originated in Italy. The word sonnet comes from the Italian word, sonneto, meaning "little song". There is controversy among historians concerning the actual originator of the sonnet, but once devised, the form became very popular in Italy. Dante and Francesco Petrarch are credited with perfecting the form. Petrarch, a Tuscan, published his Canzoniere, which contained 366 sonnets, most of them about an idealized lover named Laura. The form created in Italian is known as the Petrarchan sonnet.

It took several hundred years for the sonnet to take hold in England. Two young poets are credited with bringing the form to England after studying and traveling in Italy in the mid 1500's: Sir Thomas Wyatt and Henry Howard, Earl of Surrey. They each published very fine sonnets, and the form began to gain popularity. Wyatt's sonnet, "Whoso to hunt," is often considered to be one of the best. Both Wyatt and Surrey changed the Italian form and the result was what is now called the Shakespearean sonnet.

In the 16th century the sonnet form was widely used by Sir Philip Sidney, Edmund Spenser, William Shakespeare, John Donne, and others. Changes to the sonnet made by Spenser resulted in a third category of sonnet named after him; the Spenserian sonnet. This form never gained the popularity of the Shakespearean and Petrarchan forms. John Milton, writing in the 17th century, followed Spenser, Shakespeare and Donne and was an important figure in the history of the sonnet, although few other poets were writing sonnets during his life. Milton, best known for having written the epic poem Paradise Lost, is considered by some to be one of the greatest poets of the English language. After Milton, the form became almost extinct. Historians call our attention only to a single sonnet written by Thomas Gray, "On the Death of Mr. Richard West".

For a long period the sonnet remained an unpopular form but was revived again in the Romantic period, which is generally considered to span the years of 1789-1832. Several poets are given credit for calling attention to the sonnet during this time period. William Lisle Bowles, a vicar's son, toured northern England in the 1780s, and then wrote an influential collection of which was admired by Samuel Coleridge, William Wordsworth, and a large public. Charlotte Smith was an influential female sonnet writer during this time. A colorful figure, Helen Maria Williams, also influenced Wordsworth. She was a religious and a supporter of and of the ideals of the . She was even imprisoned in during the . Wordsworth wrote a poem for her in 1787. Although many sonnet writers of his day influenced him, William Wordsworth is credited with bringing the sonnet back to life and restoring its immense popularity during this period. Percy Bysshe Shelley and John Keats also led the list of sonnet writers during this time period.

A brother and sister, Dante Gabriel and Christina Rossetti, helped to maintain the sonnet's presence in the 19th century. The Rossetti family read widely in Italian literature and used the sonnet as a literary exercise. Two other poets of this time period, Elizabeth Barrett Browning and George Meredith, wrote sonnet sequences (series of related sonnets) about romantic relationships. Browning's Sonnets from the Portuguese express passionate desire and Meredith's Modern Love charts a disintegrating relationship between a man and wife. During the 18th and 19th centuries, sonnet writers used both the Shakespearian and Petrarchan forms, and it may be that the Petrarchan form was used more. Gerard Manley Hopkins was also an important figure in the 19th century and may have been the most original sonneteer of this time period. He was not widely known during his life . Because his work became recognized during the 20th century, his innovations to the sonnet are thought to have influenced modern poets. (White, 1972, pp. 1-3 and Strand, 2000, pp. 56-57)

I've included here a timeline of influential sonnet writers.

Francesco Petrarch 1304-1374
Sir Thomas Wyatt 1503-1542
Henry Howard, Earl of Surrey 1517-1547
Edmund Spenser 1552-1599
Sir Philip Sidney 1554-1586
Michael Drayton 1563-1631
William Shakespeare 1564-1616
John Donne 1572-1631
John Milton 1608-1674
Thomas Gray 1716-1771
Charlotte Smith 1749-1806
Helen Maria Williams 1762-1827
William Lisle Bowles 1762-1850
William Wordsworth 1770-1850
Percy Bysshe Shelley 1792-1822
John Keats 1795-1821
Elizabeth Barrett Browning 1806-1861
George Meredith 1828-1909
Dante Gabriel Rossetti 1828-1882
Christina Rossetti 1830-1894
Gerard Manley Hopkins 1844-1889
Robert Frost 1875-1963
Claude McKay 1889-1948
E.E. Cummings 1894-1962
Countee Cullen 1903-1946
John Berryman 1914-1972
Robert Lowell 1917-1977
John Hollander 1929-

The Sonnet's Structure and Important Characteristics

Certainly I hope that my students learn the basic rhyme schemes of the sonnet and its formal aspects. But I want them also to gain some understanding of its other qualities, since one of the underlying objectives of this unit is to develop an appreciation of form as it relates to the overall impact of the poem.

Many scholars who have written about the sonnet claim that the qualities of a good sonnet are found "not in its conformity to some external pattern, but in its unity of design, condensation of thought, exactitude of language and image, and – even at its most meditative and abstract – its essentially dramatic nature." (White, pp. 2-3) Commentaries on the beauty of the sonnet form are almost as plentiful as sonnets themselves. This is what C.F. Johnson wrote in 1904 in Forms of English Poetry.

Sonnet beauty depends on symmetry and asymmetry both, for the parts are unequal
in length and different in form and melody. In this it resembles things of organic
beauty as opposed to things of geometric beauty. It involves the principle of
balanced yet dissimilar masses, of formality and freedom, like a tree which has
developed under the rigorous law of its growth and yet is shaped by the chance of
wind and sunshine into something individual. The sonnet form could not have
endured the test of time for so many years did it not embody some of the
underlying principles of beauty. . .(Johnson, 1904)

The sonnet's length requires the poet to be concise. Paul Fry suggests that "The sonnet is a maximum thought unit. In other words, when a thought or train of thought gets any longer (e. g., in a stanzaic poem), it starts to seem linear and needs to be reconstructed one step at a time, whereas one can keep the whole thought of a sonnet in mind at once without it's being as simple as an aphorism or epigram." (Fry, July 25, 2005) This may help to account for the sonnet's immense popularity for so many years. The sonnet has also attracted poets because its exacting structure challenges them to solve an intellectual puzzle.

A question of categorizing the sonnet as a lyric poem or as a dramatic poem arises as one investigates scholarly writing on the sonnet. Many textbook definitions call the sonnet a lyric poem, and it does fit the definition of being a fairly short poem that expresses the personal mood, feeling or thoughts of a single speaker. But the drama of the sonnet comes with the change of thought that often occurs. White and Rosen state that, "It is far more logical in structure, more precise in thought, more concise and unified in both substance and design than the ordinary lyric." (White, p. 3)

Jennifer Ann Wagner, in her book A Moment's Monument: Revisionary Poetics and the Nineteeth-Century English Sonnet, explains how William Wordsworth viewed the sonnet not as a form that limits the poet, but instead spoke of "the way the infinite can be contained in the finite; the way large ambition can be contained in a small form; and the way in which the constraints of this form force a poet to reflect on the nature of poetic form generally…" She goes on to explain Wordsworth's view of the sonnet as synecdoche, a reference to a part in place of the whole. (Wagner, 1996 p. 15)

For the purposes of our study here, there are two major forms of the sonnet and one minor form. They all contain 14 lines. Traditionally, sonnets are written in iambic pentameter. Iambic pentameter is a rhythmical pattern and is the template or pattern for a sonnet's poetic line. The "iambic" part means that the rhythm goes from an unstressed syllable to a stressed one, as happens in words like divine, caress, bizarre, and delight. It sounds sort of like a heartbeat: daDUM, daDUM, daDUM. The "pentameter" part means that this iambic rhythm, which is a "foot," is repeated five times. A fun exercise for teaching iambic pentameter to children can be found at the Folger Shakespeare Library website, which is listed in the bibliography of this unit. Suggestions are provided for encouraging students to stomp out the pattern as well as speak in the pattern.

The Petrarchan, or Italian sonnet, consists of an octave of eight lines or two quatrains and a sestet of six lines or two tercets. The rhyme scheme of the octave is ababcdcd and the rhyme scheme of the sestet varies in many ways. A chart that identifies 18 of them with examples for each can be found in an article written by William Sharpe on the Sonnet Central website.

This distinct break between the two parts of the Petrarchan sonnet, sometimes called the turn, encourages the poet to present a subject in the octave and reflect on it in the sestet. In some sonnets these two parts take on the qualities of a proposal and a response or a problem and a resolution. Frances Mayes says that the sestet "resolves or consolidates or reflects on the concerns of the octave." (Mayes, p. 313) The subject of the poem must lend itself to this kind of resolution in order for the form to fit.

The Shakespearean sonnet has no octave/sestet structure. It consists of three quatrains and an ending rhyming couplet. The rhyme scheme is ababcdcdefefgg. Mark Strand and Eavan Boland explain that the Shakespearean sonnet, "with its three quatrains and final couplet, allows a fairly free association of images to develop lyrically toward a conclusion." (Strand, p. 57) An easier way for eighth graders to view the progression in the Shakespearean sonnet is to think of the first quatrain as introducing the subject. The second and third quatrains can further develop the subject or introduce a conflict. In the final couplet the poet can resolve the conflict or offer a comment or summary statement. Others have talked about the three quatrains as being three points to an argument. No matter how one looks at the three quatrains, the ending couplet demands a strong conclusion and the subject matter should fit.

Although it may be more difficult to use the Petrarchan sonnet's rhyme scheme because the writer uses only four different rhymes instead of the six of the Shakespearean sonnet, in other ways the Petrarchan form offers more freedom for the poet. The Petrarchan form fits more with a certain contemporary view of poetry that allows for an open-endedness. There is no option of this in the Shakespearean sonnet because of its ending couplet.

The less popular Spenserian sonnet consists of a rhyme scheme of interlocking rhyme: abab,bcbc,cdcd,ee.

When to Teach Students About Form

As mentioned earlier, I have had great success in dealing with contemporary poetry in the classroom. Therefore, I hate to risk losing this positive edge and will continue to start off my school year with the successful lessons I have developed. I think that it is easier for the teacher to emphasize the development of metaphorical thought and creating strong images when dealing with free verse. I have always called attention to line breaks and enjambment in free verse, but will now place more emphasis on talking about the line as form. After I am assured that students have developed a "love of poetry," I will present this sonnet unit, with even more emphasis on form.

Learning Poetic Terms

Throughout their study of poetry, which will essentially last the entire year, students will keep a special section in their notebook for poetic terminology. Work on this list, composed of 40 terms, will be a year long project. Students can only add a definition to the list when they feel comfortable enough with the word to write the definition in their own words. In addition, they will have to include a poem that illustrates the term. I will give them a choice of including a poem they have written or a published poem they have found. To keep them progressing on this task, I will require that ten terms must be completed at the end of each report period.

Techniques for Presenting the Poems and Encouraging Close Reading

A popular question debated among middle school teachers is, Just how much can we ask of our students when it comes to close reading or explication of poetry? Many teachers feel that insistence on close reading will turn kids off and bore them. To a certain extent this may be true, but my own experience with students at this age is that they actually love an intellectual challenge; sometime boredom in the classroom results from low expectations and mind numbing activities. Middle school is often an intellectual holding ground; much of what goes on in our classrooms consists of simple review of what students have already learned. I think if the challenge of explication is presented as a puzzle and not as the teacher lecturing and providing the right answers, students will experience satisfaction when successful in the task. My own students balk and groan each week when I assign a close reading and written response to a selected poem. However, I notice a real sense of accomplishment when those close readings result in insightful analyses and connections. In reality, they enjoy the intellectual work.

Frances Mayes states, "Some people fear that analysis takes away from enjoyment; 'explain it, drain it,' they say. Protracted analysis can wear you out, but good critical consideration is creative and rewarding." (Mayes, p. 10) A technical way of explaining close reading involves two steps. The first is observing facts and details about the text. Many of the questions provided later in the unit help the student make these observations and guide them in the observational process. The second step involves interpreting the observations. This is an inductive process, moving from details to interpretation based on the observed details. A more eloquent definition of close reading is provided by Sven Birkerts in The Electric Life. "To close read a poem is, in part, to create a receptivity, a silence, in yourself so that the work can leave an impression. Each reading represents a deepening involvement with the work in question. The only talent required is a talent for focus and deceleration. To read poetry as it is meant to be read, you must push your way through the shallow-field perceptual mode that modern life makes habitual." (Birkerts, 1989, p.91)

How does this translate to a classroom of rambunctious adolescents who have trouble focusing on more than a sound bite? Determining the appropriate level of rigor for close readings is a challenge for teachers, as is creating a stimulating and nurturing environment where students can take intellectual risks. Much patience is needed from the teacher and she must respect all responses as she guides students to disciplined, close adherence to the text. Responses that are way off should be dignified and the student's thought process gently moved in a different direction. I present methods for large group discussion, small group discussion and presentation, and guidelines for individual close readings. Much of the focus and discussion of the poems presented in this unit will relate to their membership in the sonnet classification, but I still want students to deal with other aspects of the poems. Although the sonnetness of the poem may be the first thing noticed and discussed, students will also be asked to focus on interpretation, craft, and other elements they have studied previously.

A Simple Approach That Forces Involvement

I use several techniques for making poetry accessible for this age group. The first method forces the involvement of every student, but is also completely non-threatening. It is a simple approach that can be done with an entire class, even when students haven't read the poem prior to class. First, I encourage at least three oral readings of the poem. The first reading can be done by the teacher, especially if the poem contains unfamiliar vocabulary. If the teacher is lucky enough to have recordings of poets reading their own work, this of course can take the place of a teacher reading. Second and third readings can include student volunteers reading the poem in its entirety, or dividing the poem into stanzas or lines, and "reading around". After the final reading, students are asked to identify three things in the poem. First, they must place a * by the line or phrase that they like the most, for any reason. It may be because of the meaning, the unique word choice, the metaphorical language, or simply because of its originality. Second, they must underline the line or phrase that is the most important to them in the poem. The third response is placing a ? next to a line or phrase they don't understand.

After students spend a few minutes privately responding to the poem, the class discussion can begin in several ways. Often I ask students what they want to start with, the *'s or the ?'s. Or, I may simply say that everyone is to first share his or her *ed phrase or line. Whatever the approach, this method usually assures that all students have been able to "grab onto" something in the poem. The discussion usually blossoms. As the teacher directs this discussion, care can be taken to encourage students to use textual evidence to support interpretations. Middle school children, like all readers, tend to find a single phrase or image in a poem that "hits home" and then take their interpretation on a path clearly not intended by the poet. Insisting on a close adherence to the words on the page is excellent training for all close reading that they will need to do in their high school and college careers. During discussion the teacher must also remind students to use poetic terminology in their discussion and model this practice themselves

After the group has developed some level of comfort with the sonnet, the teacher can move the discussion in the direction of examining the form and its interplay with meaning. In Classroom Activity #2, presented later in the curriculum unit, questions are suggested that the teacher can use to guide students toward an understanding of how poets make use of the sonnet's form.

Small Group Presentation of a Poem

A second method involves dividing the class into small groups of 3 or 4 students. Each group is assigned a poem and a criteria sheet for how the poem must be presented to the class. If this method is used for discussing sonnets, the criteria list should include such items as: identify type of sonnet, discuss diversions from sonnet form that might be present in the poem, point out what effect the sonnet form has on the overall effect of the poem, discuss why the sonnet form is or is not appropriate to the subject of this poem, offer an interpretive analysis of the poem, support interpretations with textual evidence, present the poem in a clear and creative manner, and use at least five poetic terms from our list when presenting the poem. Groups are given 30 to 60 minutes to prepare and then present the poem to the class. Again, after the group presentation, the entire class should participate in a discussion. The teacher can make use of the questions presented in Activity #2.

Reader Response Questions to Aid Independent Reading of Poetry

Finally, when I want students to spend a longer amount of time exploring a poem individually, I use a reader response guide. This list of questions works well when a poem is assigned for homework, in preparation for a discussion the following day. All of the students read the poem independently and give written responses to the following questions: In addition to the criteria listed in the previous group work section, the following questions encourage the student to be thoughtful and attentive to the poem, but fall short of demanding a formal interpretation. What do you notice about the poem? What words, lines, images stand out? What do you like immediately? What don't you like? What is puzzling? What is surprising? What words and allusions need to be clarified? What does the poem make you feel? What does the poem make you think of? What does the image allow you to imagine or fantasize? What assumptions have you made about the poet, about who's speaking, and about what's happening? What is the tone of the voice of the speaker? What questions do you have for the poem?

After students have made personal responses to the poem, the entire class discusses the poem, using the same questions as starting points. Following the class discussions, students should return to their original responses and write further on the questions: Why did you find yourself paying attention to these elements? What made you react that way? What sense might this make now? Why did you respond that way? What (in the poem or in what you brought to it) evoked these thoughts? Forcing the students to write after class discussion ensures that they have clarified and expanded their original responses to the poem.

The informal journaling that results from the reader response approach is sufficient in and of itself; however, these student jottings can also serve as a great pre-writing step to a more formal response paper or analytical essay.

Sonnets to Read

Sonnets will be presented to the students in three groupings. The first grouping will consist of sonnets chosen simply for their adherence to the strictly defined meter, rhyme, and line length patterns of the Petrarchan and Shakespearean forms. These will be used in activities designed to reinforce these basic form elements. The second group of sonnets will be used for more in depth readings and explications, with the goal of helping students understand the more subtle ways that form adds to the overall meanings of the sonnets. The third group of sonnets represents variations on sonnets that poets have made. Again, these variations will be examined in light of how the variations are related to meaning and effect. Almost all of the sonnets mentioned below are found easily on the internet. Web addresses for Sonnet Central and the American Academy of Poets are listed in the bibliography.

Sonnet Group #1 – Introducing Basic Form Constraints

Middle school children respond favorably to exercises that feature inductive reasoning. The problem solving nature of this type of exercise is fun and promotes active learning. An inductive method of introducing the rhyme schemes for the two major types of sonnet should be effective. I intend to present three examples of both Petrarchan and Shakespearean sonnet and let the students state the rules concerning rhyming patterns and syllable counts.

Petrarchan sonnets that would work well for this exercise because they don't vary from the prescribed format are "Composed Upon Westminster Bridge," by William Wordsworth; "From the Dark Tower," by Countee Cullen, and "How Do I Love Thee," by Elizabeth Barrett Browning. Shakespearean sonnets to use are "Putting in the Seed," by Robert Frost; "To Sleep," by Charlotte Smith, and "Dawn in New York," by Claude McKay. A part of the exercise will be asking students to articulate the differences between the two forms. If students don't come up with it on their own, the teacher may have to pose questions to point out the rhyming couplet in the Shakespearean sonnet and the octave/sestet split in the Petrarchan.

Sonnet Group #2 – Encouraging Further Explication and Analysis of the Form's Significance

Instead of beginning with sonnets from the early years of the sonnet timeline, this unit will present 20th century sonnets first and then work backwards in a chronological sequence. This strategy results from my often stated fear that I don't want to overwhelm my eighth graders. My thought is that the obstacle of difficult language is more likely to be absent from more recent sonnets than from sonnets written in earlier centuries. I have chosen only ten sonnets to offer to students for directed, close reading, in keeping with the timeline of a seven day unit. However, additional sonnet titles are provided to supplement and extend the teaching. The teacher can decide the best methods for presenting these poems. I have discussed large group, small group, and individual methods earlier in the unit. I think that eighth graders are capable of reading a few sonnets and making generalizations about how the form can aid the overall meaning of poems. All of the questions put forth in Activity #2 later in the unit will help students examine these poems. Some of the questions are referred to as I present the poems.

Presenting Countee Cullen's "From the Dark Tower" as the first sonnet to discuss indicates to students that the sonnet is not a dead form and that poets from many cultural backgrounds have found the form suitable to their themes. The sonnet follows the Petrarchan form we are familiar with in the opening octave. The sestet's rhyme pattern is ccddee, a variation from the two most common rhyme patterns and so offers students an opportunity to notice an interesting variation. This poem reflects many of the themes that poets explored during the Harlem Renaissance. The symbolic connections are strong but not too elusive for middle school aged children. They will be capable of figuring out that the "buds that cannot bloom at all/ in light" refers to a unique situation of Black Americans during the 1920's. The pride in Negritude that was blossoming during this time period is revealed in Cullen's lines "the night whose sable breast relieves the stark/white stars is no less lovely being dark." The sonnet form allows Cullen to put forth his concerns about the present state of American Blacks and assertions that things won't always be that way. In the sestet he reflects on the concerns of the octave. Cullen chooses to end this Petrarchan sonnet with a very strong and disturbing Shakespearean couplet. It serves as an amplification of the concerns of the sonnet; black hearts bleed and wait.

"Putting in the Seed," by Robert Frost features very accessible language for eighth graders. It strictly follows the Shakespearean pattern of rhyming quatrains and an ending couplet and demonstrates how imagery works well in a sonnet, although the rhyme pattern varies slightly: abababab instead of ababcdcd. Frost's three quatrains seem to build on each other as he develops the images of spring, his passion for the earth, and the connections between these springtime activities of nature and human love. This poem is also a good example of how the sonnet can begin with an image drawn from the external world and then compare it with a state of mind or emotion. The metaphorical ending couplet "the sturdy seedling with arched body comes/ shouldering its way and shedding the earth crumbs" presents a good example of a strong closure.

Moving backwards to the 19th century, it seems appropriate to include one of the best known sonnets, especially because it also represents the overly emotional tone of many sonnets from this time period. "How Do I Love Thee?" (#43) from Sonnets From The Portuguese by Elizabeth Barrett Browning is a straightforward and old fashioned love poem, and I think for those reasons my middle school female students might love it. Students may have a preconceived notion that the theme of all sonnets is love, but hopefully through exposure to the sonnets in this unit, they will come to understand that poets have dealt with all kinds of subjects in their sonnets. When students attempt to understand the importance of the sonnet form to this poem, they may not observe any complex form/meaning connections, for the poem is almost like a list poem. However, I do think that Browning achieves a wholeness and uses a logical thought pattern that concludes with the poet thinking about her deepening love even after death. Although it is difficult to explain the change of course after the octave, I think students can sense the reflective tone of the sestet.

Another representative sonnet from the 19th century fits into a popular category of sonnets, that of sonnets about sonnets. The Sonnet Central website has a large collection of these sonnets if students are interested in reading more. "A Sonnet is a Moment's Monument," by Dante Gabriel Rossetti, presents a phrase that is often quoted by scholars of the sonnet. Students will enjoy the oxymoron of a moment's monument and can meet the challenge of explaining Rossetti's particular definition of a sonnet as well as his second comparison, "A sonnet is a coin." A second oxymoron later in the poem, "dead, deathless hour," also provides a challenge for interpretation. Some other qualities that students might observe include the use of alliteration, which one critic suggests is "typical of Rossetti's effort to imitate the prolongation of the moment." (Wagner, p. 131) This is perhaps the most difficult of the ten sonnets presented in this group, and although the language is a bit dense, students may be able to discuss the relationship of the sestet to the octave. Is it a response to it? Does it confirm the point made or contradict it?

Middle school children often have a fascination with death, so "Rest," by Christina Rossetti, may appeal to them. This Petrarchan form contains another variation in the sestet, a cdceed rhyme scheme. Lines like "darkness more clear than noonday holdeth her" and "silence more musical than any song" present interesting riddles that will intrigue this age group. The octave/sestet split does lend itself to Rossetti's treatment of the subject. In the first eight lines she paints an image of death and then comments on Eternity in the sestet.

The Romantic period is when sonnets were reborn, thanks to Williams Wordsworth. Early in his writing life Wordsworth disdained the sonnet, but later began to view it as a form that didn't have to be sentimental. Although he wrote over 500 sonnets, only a few were in the Shakespearean form. "Composed Upon Westminster Bridge" is one of the most often anthologized Wordsworth sonnets. In this poem Wordsworth describes the city in the early morning, when it is most like nature. The octave consists of a suggestion that the city is human-like, wearing a garment of nature, and then moves to a list of urban images. In the sestet he reemphasizes and expresses awe at the possibility that the city can be as beautiful and calming as nature. Paul Fry suggests that there is an actual change of thought at the end of the poem, when "Wordsworth seems to stumble on a paradox at the end: When the houses seem to sleep (rather than to be awake) we realize for the first time that they're alive, and the inanimate city itself suddenly discloses a 'mighty heart.'" (Fry, July 25, 2005)

A second Wordsworth poem that students will enjoy belongs to the previously mentioned category of sonnets on sonnets. "Nuns Fret Not…" is probably one of the most easily understood of all of Wordsworth's sonnets. The metaphorical connections between the sonnet and prison and the sonnet's form to a scanty plot of ground will be easily deciphered and enjoyed. The change at the octave/sestet is most evident in this poem. The first eight lines catalogue various lives that are confined in some way, then Wordsworth switches to his comments on the confines of the sonnet and how they can provide "brief solace." The last thought, "Pleased if some Souls (for such there needs must be)/ Who have felt the weight of too much liberty,/ Should find brief solace there, as I have found," can provoke a lively discussion. Even though students of this age don't think of their lives as having "too much liberty," they should be able to reflect on the comfort that can come from structure.

Although John Keats wrote relatively few sonnets, some of them are considered to be close to perfection. "When I Have Fears" will appeal to middle school students because it speaks of the poet's desires, longings and goals and his fear that he may not live long enough to fulfill them. The story of this young poet's early death will endear him to this age group. Questions like "What is happening in each of the three quatrains?" and "Do the poet's thoughts shift or grow?" will help students see that the three quatrains are separate identities that build on the theme. In the first quatrain Keats laments that he may not get to write everything that is in his mind or read all there is to read. Next he frets over the possibility of missing out on romantic possibilities. In the third quatrain he speaks to a particular person he will miss. The powerful language of the ending couplet, "Till Love and Fame to nothingness do sink," provides an example of the strength of the Shakespearean ending.

A third poem from the Romantic period was written by Charlotte Smith. Many of her poems are quite appropriate for middle school students. I chose "To the Moon" because I have often had students who love to use moon, star, and sky images in their poetry. The first quatrain speaks to the moon appreciatively, mentioning her delight in watching its movement. In the second quatrain the speaker raises the thought that the moon might provide comfort for the wretched, introducing a related, but more intense reflection. Elaboration on this idea fills the third quatrain, and the poem ends with a concluding, strong wish of the speaker. Students will be able to see the usefulness of the Shakespearean sonnet's structure to Charlotte Smith's subject matter.

No curriculum unit on the sonnet can be put forth without including at least one sonnet written by Shakespeare. Shakespeare's 154 sonnets, taken together, are frequently described as a sequence, and this is generally divided into two sections. Sonnets 1-126 focus on a young man and the speaker's friendship with him, and Sonnets 127-52 focus on the speaker's relationship with a woman. However, in only a few of the poems in the first group is it clear that the person being addressed is a male. And most of the poems in the sequence as a whole are not direct addresses to another person. Again bending to popular cultural literacy, the inclusion of Sonnet #18, "Shall I Compare Thee to a Summer's Day?" seems appropriate for middle school. Students should recognize that the first line is a question, and then understand that the speaker realizes that no, the young man is far superior to a summer day, the comparison is not enough. The speaker then goes on to elaborate on why the young man is finer than a summer's day. His youth will not fade, nor will his beauty. The ending couplet wraps up the speaker's adoration by declaring that the poem will give him immortality.

Sonnet Group #3 – Variations on Sonnet Form

Variations on strict rhyme schemes, meter, and number of lines are numerous and these departures do not come only from contemporary poets, but from early practitioners of the form as well. Presenting sonnets from this category to students will add to their understanding of form's integral importance to a poem.

A sonnet written in the early 1600's by Ben Jonson provides a clear example of changes in form that enhance the poem's statement. "On My First Son" was written by Jonson about a son who died when he was only seven years old. The sonnet is only 12 lines long, a truncated sonnet. Students should easily be able to grasp the poet's desire to cut the sonnet short, just as his son's life was cut short. Jonson also varied the traditional rhyme scheme and uses an aabbccddeeff scheme. This deviation from the traditional sonnet form might not be as easy for students to grasp, but they may sense that it is more of a nursery rhyme or childlike rhyme pattern. The meter in this poem also illustrates a deviation. The first two lines are strict iambic pentameter, then the meter becomes irregular. Could this be a structural reference to the confusion and wrenching apart of Jonson's emotional being?

The major deviation in the sonnet "Acquainted With the Night," by Robert Frost is the use of terza rima. This is a rhyme scheme of aba, bcb, cdc, ded, etc. and was used by Dante in the Divine Comedy. Frost's fourth stanza is actually dad and then he concludes with a rhyming couplet, aa. Students can be asked why the three line stanzas were chosen by Frost instead of the traditional quatrains in a sonnet. Was there a reason he returned to the a rhyme in the fourth stanza instead of moving to an e? Why did he return to the a in the concluding couplet and to a repetition of the first line? Is this a poem about loneliness, the problems with city life, or Frost's general encounters with the darker issues of his life?

Many middle school students are already familiar with e.e.cummings and they are intrigued with his wild use of punctuation, capitalization and line breaks. His sonnet "next to of course god America i…" makes use of his characteristic form innovations plus uses a mix of the Shakespearean and Petrarchan sonnet forms. This poem, which is enclosed in quotes (except for the last line) is a satire on speakers who make use of overly patriotic and religious clichés. Ask students why cummings uses a mixture of two sonnet forms. Might the mixing of the two help to show a mix of confused ideology? Why did cummings string together the words "deafanddumb?" Why did he create a line break in the middle of the word beautiful? Another very obvious form deviation is the last line, which is separated from the rest of the poem, uses correct capitalization and punctuation, and is not in quotes. This line also includes an unusual syntax, cummings says "drank rapidly" instead of rapidly drank. Why this inversion? One critic suggests that "this syntactical inversion serves to indicate the similar transformation of the sonnet form which cummings has effected in terms of form and further serves to point to the inverted philosophy of the speaker of lines one through thirteen." (Davis, 1970, p. 15)

A contemporary poet, John Hollander, wrote an entire book of poems entitled Powers of Thirteen, in which he writes sonnets of 13 lines each. Each line contains 13 syllables. What fun middle school students will have with these sonnets, posing theories about what Hollander was up to. In the sonnets Hollander speaks to an unknown person. This mysterious figure seems to be a female friend, perhaps an old friend or a rarely seen lover. However, at least one critic claims that the poems are addressed to his imagination, not an actual person. If the entire collection can be shown to students, Hollander's choice to write sonnets of 13 lines will be more powerful, but one poem can work as well . Sonnet #6, "Fancy Pants," is light and characterizes a younger sister, to whom everyone paid attention. This child was a mischief maker and occasionally worked in collusion with the speaker in the poem. If the poems are really written to Hollander's imagination, then what might the little sister represent? The poems in this collection are also good examples of what contemporary sonnet writers do with line breaks and enjambment. This collection is available as a volume, but the entire group is also published in John Hollander: Selected Poetry. If students are interested in the 13 line poems of Hollander, they might want to investigate the 18 line sonnets written by another contemporary poet, John Berryman in his Dream Songs.

I will present a final sonnet here that deviates from traditional form, written by a contemporary poet who was a participant in the Yale July Intensive Seminar, Mary Carol Moran. She has given permission to include the poem in this unit.

October Song

Although the rhyme sequence of Moran's poem follows a strict Shakespearean form, she uses line breaks to create interesting effects. Earlier sonneteers were much more likely to end stop most or all of their lines, although both Shakespeare and Milton both did a lot of enjambing. Contemporary sonnet writers enjamb almost everything and use end stopping for pointed effect. The two end stopped lines 8 and 9, bracket the turn in the poem (classic sonnet turn). End stopping is a way to say to the reader, "Pay attention now." Moran's poem also introduces to students the craft element used by contemporary sonnet writers of slant rhyme or off rhyme. Many of her rhymes are not full rhymes, for instance dancing and glance and welcoming and home. Through and bough are sight rhymes, words which look alike but aren't pronounced alike. Students should be asked to observe what is happening in each quatrain. Do they build on each other or does each quatrain pronounce a shift in the poet's thought process?

Other Sonnets to Use

Students and teachers might want to examine more sonnets written by African American poets of the early 20th century. Two poets associated with the Harlem Renaissance, Countee Cullen and Claude McKay, wrote often in the sonnet form. An African American poet who preceded that time period and published many sonnets is Paul Laurence Dunbar.

Three witty sonnets were written by John Hollander, the creator of Powers of Thirteen, in his book Rhymes's Reason: A Guide to English Verse. In this collection, Hollander writes explanatory verse for all major English poetic forms. His three poems on the sonnet explain the Shakespearean and Petrarchan forms, and one expounds on variations. Students will definitely enjoy untangling his explanations.

As mentioned earlier, sonnets written about sonnets proliferate. Some of the more well known in this category are "On the Sonnet" by John Keats, "Scorn Not the Sonnet" by William Wordsworth, "An Enigma" by Edgar Allan Poe, "Sonet" by Edwin Arlington Robinson, and "To Mr. Henry Cary, on the Publication of His Sonnets" by Anna Seward.

Classroom Activities

Lesson #1 – introducing and reinforcing the sonnet structure in its most basic form.

Two activities will be used to introduce the sonnet to students. They are designed to help students determine the basic formulaic "rules" and to reinforce their learning of these rules. The first lesson can be done individually or in small groups. It asks students use inductive reasoning to determine the standard rules for sonnet writing. Six poems are suggested earlier in the section Sonnet Group #1. The teacher or students may want to prepare a chart or some other graphic organizer to help students record their findings. Students should notice the following characteristics in each sonnet: number of lines, number of stanzas, number of lines per stanza, rhyme scheme, meter, and other observations. As they attempt to make generalizations based on their observations, they should be warned that the examples provided fall into two types of sonnets. The entire class needs to list the generalizations on the blackboard or on chart paper and compare them with generally accepted rules of the sonnet form.

After this initial activity, the basics can be reinforced in a second activity. The teacher should gather more standard sonnets in both the Petrarchan and Shakespearean forms. Some possible sonnets to use are: "Care" by Charlotte Smith, "Africa" by Claude McKay, "The World is too Much with Us" by William Wordsworth, "Lucifer in Starlight" by George Meredith, "Thou Art Not Lovelier Than Lilacs" by Edna St. Vincent Millay, "To Science" by Edgar Allan Poe, "#73, That time of year though mayst in me behold" by William Shakespeare, or any other sonnet that doesn't deviate from the basic prescription. These sonnets can be blown up to a larger size, and then the teacher should cut the lines apart. Give the lines from a sonnet to a small group and challenge the students to put them in the right order, based on the rhyme and form rules from the previous lesson. This should be fun, and there can even be contests among groups. The teacher can give the same six poems to each group and see who can put them together quickly and correctly. Another twist on this activity would be to let teams challenge each other. Each team would have to find five or more poems, cut them up, then challenge another team to put them back together.

Lesson #2 – Questions Designed to Help Students Discover How the Sonnet's Form Enhances the Overall Effect of the Poem

This activity gets to the heart of the unit. Students have already ingested the most basic level of understanding the sonnet – learning the mechanics. Now they must attempt to make sense of the deeper importance of the sonnet form. The questions provided can be used in large group discussion, small group work, or individually and hopefully the teacher will have time to do all three. If the teacher follows the suggestions in the Strategies section of the unit for large group, small group, and individual close reading, then each student will be afforded plenty of practice in understanding sonnets. The poems suggested above in Sonnet Group #2 – Encouraging Further Explication and Analysis of the Form's Significance will work well in this lesson.

Before addressing any of the following questions, students should be encouraged to mark up their sonnets, identifying the rhyme scheme, drawing lines between the quatrains, noting the turn between the octave and the sestet.

1. Questions for Shakespearean sonnets:

What is happening in each of the three quatrains? Do the poet's thoughts shift or grow? Do the three quatrains build on each other?
What purpose does the ending couplet serve? Is it a conclusion? Does it restate something in the sonnet in stronger terms? Does it refute or contradict a point made in the first 12 lines?
Is the ending couplet strong and does it provide finality?

2. Questions for Petrarchan sonnets:

What is happening in the octave? Is a proposal or situation presented? Is a question asked?
Can you point to the turn or "volta"? What is the poet doing at the turn?
What has the poet done in the sestet?
In the sestet does the poet resolve, restate, or reflect on the concerns of the octave? Does the sestet release any tension created in the octave?

3. What is the topic of this sonnet? Why is the topic of this sonnet especially suited to such a concise form?

4. Does the sonnet begin with a scene or image drawn from the external world? Does the poet then compare the image with some state of mind or emotion?

5. Is there a tight thematic structure? What is it?

6. Can you identify two related thoughts in the sonnet, either contrasting or parallel?

7. Do the ideas or thoughts expressed in the sonnet seem to move forward in a logical way? Explain.

8. Does the sonnet remind you of the way the human mind works? Does it reflect or mirror an intellectual or emotional process?

9. Has the poet achieved a wholeness within the sonnet? How would you explain that wholeness?

10. How does this poem fit the definition of the sonnet as a coherent, packed, and charged form?

Lesson #3 – Writing Original Sonnets: Two Required Poems

As a part of this unit, students will write at least two sonnets. The first will demonstrate the students' knowledge of the architectural form of the sonnet as well as an understanding of what that structure can do for the poem. This sonnet should be written after the first two groups of sonnets have been presented to students. The second poem assignment will challenge students to write an original sonnet and make some structural change to it. This structural change must be related to the meaning and purpose of the poem. Students will write this sonnet after examining the third group of sonnets, those that illustrate a departure from strict structure.

After spending four or five days reading and discussing sonnets, students should be itching to try their hands at writing some. Many of them will have already done so. The teacher should begin by reviewing not just the meter, rhyme, and line requirements, but also what the form can do for the subject of the poem. The teacher should remind students of the responses and discussions of sonnets that resulted from the questions listed in Activity #2. The class should spend time brainstorming possible subjects that could fit well with the sonnet form. This list should be recorded on a chart and displayed.

To review and reinforce the form, some group poems can be written. Two popular approaches to the writing of group poems were suggested by my seminar colleagues at the Yale New Haven Summer Intensive. The first is a simple method, involving writing on a piece of paper. Depending on the size of the class, several sonnets can be started at one time. Students can be required to add one or two lines, then pass the paper on to the next student. The writer of the third line will be the student who decides if the sonnet should be Shakespearean or Petrarchan. This same "write around" can be accomplished in the computer lab. If there are enough computers for each student, then each student may begin a sonnet. When a bell is rung, all students move to the next computer and add a second line. After these active group writing sessions, students should be somewhat comfortable with the form requirements and can be challenged to attempt writing a sonnet on their own.

The second sonnet assignment may be more challenging, but at the same time students may have more fun with it. Again the teacher will review the deviations made by the poets studied in the third category of sonnets. Again the teacher should lead a brainstorming session on changes that could be made to the strict form and what those changes could do for the poem.

Revision of Original Sonnets

Because revision is such an important skill for middle school writers, I vary my approach to this process. Often I set up scenarios for formal written peer reviews, providing students with written questions pertaining to the specific genre or assignment. The questions are formed to direct their examination of a peer's work. However, for revision of the sonnet writing, I think small response groups of three or four students would work well, with oral commenting. Although it involves work on the teacher's part, I do make copies of student work for this type of response session, so that each member of the group has a poem to look at and write on. Each member of the group must write on his or her copy and speak directly to the poet. Students should be directed to comment on specific aspects of the sonnets. What form is the sonnet? Have any diversions from the form been made? What does the sonnet form do enhance the subject and overall meaning of the sonnet? What is the strongest part of the sonnet? Which words and phrases seem to be particularly well chosen? Are there any general nouns that can be replaced by more specific ones? Which weak verbs can be replaced by vivid verbs? Where is the rhyme so weak that it detracts from the sonnet? Are there any similes or metaphors? Are they clichés?

If a teacher is interested in a more expansive list of revision guidelines for poetry an excellent one is available on the Fooling With Words website.

Works Cited/ Teacher Bibliography

Birkerts, Sven. The Electric Life: Essays on Modern Poetry. William Morrow and Company, Inc.: New York, 1989.

Sven Birkets has published reviews in most of the major literary magazines in the United States. He has also taught at Harvard University and has been a bookseller. The essays in this collection deal with ways of reading contemporary poetry as well as close readings of particular poems.

Brooks, Cleanth and Robert Penn Warren. Understanding Poetry, Fourth Edition. Harcourt Brace College Publishers: New York, 1976.

This classic textbook should be on the shelf of every English teacher. It is a comprehensive guide to reading poetry and writing about poetry.

Cotter, Janet M. Invitation to Poetry. Withrop Publishers, Inc.: Cambridge, Massachusetts, 1971.

In this fairly straightforward textbook, Cotter presents a wide variety of poems with questions to encourage discussion and interpretation.

Davis, William V. Concerning Poetry. 1970. Retrieved from the World Wide Web: http://www.english.uiuc.edu/maps/poets/a_f/cummings/nexttoofcourse.htm

This article was excerpted on the useful site Modern American Poetry.

Fry, Paul. Yale National Initiative July Intensive Seminar, Reading Poetry of All Kinds: Pictures, Places and Things, People. New Haven, July 2005.

Hollander, John. Powers of Thirteen. Atheneum: New York, 1983.

The poems in this collection were not easily found on the internet. If at all possible, the teacher should obtain a copy of this book, especially so that students can view the entire sequence of sonnets of 13 lines.

Hollander, John. Rhyme's Reason, A Guide to English Verse. Yale University Press: New Haven and London, 1981.

As mentioned in the unit, this slim volume contains witty verse written by Hollander to explain a variety of forms of poetry.

Johnson, Charles Frederick. Forms of English Poetry. Folcroft Library Editions, 1979. Retrieved July 26, 2005 from the World Wide Web: http://www.sonnets.org/

Mayes, Frances. The Discovery of Poetry: A Field Guide to Reading and Writing Poetry. Harcourt: New York, 2001.

I found this book to be extremely accessible because it was written for non-academics. Mayes loves poetry and wants to share her passion with the general public. Mayes teaches poetry at San Francisco State University and it seems as though the structure of the book might stem from the classes she has taught. There is plenty of advice concerning how to read and understand poetry, but she also offers many exercises for the writer of poetry.

Strand, Mark and Eavan Boland, ed. The Making of a Poem: A Norton Anthology of Poetic Forms. W.W. Norton and Co.: New York, 2000.

Another book that should be on classroom shelves, this is a comprehensive catalog of forms in English poetry, each chapter covering one form and providing examples. Both authors are poets themselves and they each write their own forward, explaining how they became acquainted with poetic form.

Wagner, Jennifer. A Moment's Monument: Revisionary Poetics and the Nineteenth-Century English Sonnet. Associated University Presses: Cranbury, N.J., 1996.

This academic treatise stemmed from Wagner's graduate work. Although the writing is dense, the reader will find many in depth and scholarly approaches to viewing the sonnet.

White, Gertrude and Joan Rosen. A Moment's Monument: The Development of the Sonnet. Charles Scribner's Sons: New York, 1972.

Although probably out of print, if a teacher can get her hands on this collection, she should. It includes a comprehensive sampling of sonnets throughout history and the commentaries written by the editors are very helpful.

Websites for Students and Teachers

Folger Shakespeare Library http://www.folger.edu/

At this website teachers can find lesson plans relating to all Shakespearean plays, but also to his sonnets.

Fooling With Words http://www.pbs.org/wnet/foolingwithwords/main_revise.html

Bill Moyers is responsible for creating this website, which is closely associated with a PBS series and a book. The website is mentioned here because of the helpful poetry revision suggestions provided.

Modern American Poetry http://www.english.uiuc.edu/maps/

This online journal and multimedia companion to the Anthology of Modern American Poetry is invaluable to teachers and students. Many poems are presented at this site as well as excerpts from essays related to the poems.

Sonnet Central http://www.sonnets.org/

This website will prove to be incredibly helpful to all teachers and students studying the sonnet. Almost all of the sonnets referred to in this curriculum unit can be found at this website. In addition there is much information regarding the history of the sonnet as well as a contest for sonnet writers.

Read Write Think http://www.readwritethink.org/

Maintained by the National Council of Teachers of English, this website provides a large assortment of lesson plans for teachers written by teachers. Several deal with the sonnet and close reading of poetry in general.

Comments (0)

Be the first person to comment

IMAGES

How to Write a Sonnet (with 2 Sample Poems)
Sonnet Writing Activity Assignment by Cheeky Lit Teacher
How to Write a Sonnet Like Shakespeare: 12 Steps (with Pictures)
Writing A Sonnet
How to Write a Sonnet: Tips and Examples
Simple sonnet Poems

VIDEO

Sonnet (Iambic pentameter and Rhyme scheme)
HOLY SONNET 7 "At the round earth's. . . " John Donne
One Hundred Love Sonnets XVII By Pablo Neruda explanation
This AI Tool is Blowing Everyone Away
Write Music: How to Write a Violin Sonata (1)
Writing & Ranking Articles With Claude Sonnet (Live)

COMMENTS

How To Write A Sonnet: 3-Step Guide To Writing A Sonnet ️
Your 14 line sonnet must be written in three sets of four lines and one set of two lines. 1. The first quatrain will have lines that end in a rhyme scheme like this: ABAB, for example, 'day', 'temperate', 'may', 'date'. 2. The second quatrain will use different words to rhyme scheme like this: CDCD, for example, 'shines ...
How to Write a Sonnet
If you are a beginner, it is easiest to just rhyme the lines as you go. Lines 1 and 2 end with the first rhyming pair (or couplet); lines 3 or 4 form the next rhyming pair and so on. If you continue this way to the end, the rhyme scheme of your sonnet is expressed this way: aa bb cc dd ee ff gg.
Sonnet Poems: How to Write a Sonnet
Use precise language. 1. Explore "Conflict". A central feature of the sonnet form is a core "conflict" or "problem" which the poet hopes to explore and resolve. If you're unsure of where to begin, start with a central question. This conflict doesn't need to be like the conflict in fiction or in movies.
How to Analyze a Shakespearean Sonnet
Writing an essay on a Shakespearean sonnet can be quite a challenge. The following are a few tips to help you start the process: 1. Find the Theme. Although love is the overarching theme of the sonnets, there are three specific underlying themes: (1) the brevity of life, (2) the transience of beauty, and (3) the trappings of desire.
How to Write a Shakespearean Sonnet with 3 Examples
Shakespearean Sonnet Examples. Those pretty wrongs that liberty commits. When I am sometime absent from thy heart, Thy beauty and thy years full well befits, For still temptation follows where thou art. Gentle thou art, and therefore to be won, Beauteous thou art, therefore to be assailed; And when a woman woos, what woman 's son.
How to Write a Sonnet
There are many ways to write a sonnet, and this article will discuss a few of the possible methods that could be adopted. We will examine different types of sonnets, different sonnet rhyme schemes, meter structures, and various other elements that form part of sonnets in general. If you want to learn how to write a sonnet, keep reading.
3 Ways to Write a Sonnet
Use the same iambic pentameter meter as the Shakesperean sonnet. All lines should follow the "ta-TUM ta-TUM ta-TUM ta-TUM ta-TUM" pattern, but remember to insert metrical variation from time to time to enliven the rhythm and draw attention to key phrases. 3. Develop content as the Petrarchan stanzaic structure demands.
Shakespearean Sonnet
Prompt 1 - Moving Nature. Write a Shakespearean sonnet capturing the intricate and captivating movements of nature. Explore the changing seasons, the rhythm of the waves, the flight of birds, clouds floating through the sky, or come up with your own example. Example: Nature's whisper, a tale of seasons spread.
Write a sonnet
Step 3: Get writing! Sonnets have been around for over seven centuries, maybe because they're so much fun to write! A sonnet is a poem of 14 lines that reflects upon a single issue or idea. It usually takes a turn, called a "volta," about 8 lines in, and then resolves the issue by the end. Shakespearean sonnets use iambic pentameter and ...
How to Write a Sonnet in 7 Key Steps
1 Write down all your ideas/ Consider themes. 2 Consider the mood and major themes. 3 Consider the various sonnet forms. 4 Create a draft. 5 Revise your sonnet. 6 Get feedback on your sonnet. 7 Revise, revise, revise your sonnet.
How to Write a Sonnet Poem in 7 Steps
To be able to write a sonnet, (whether English or Italian) you must follow a specific form. 3. Write in iambic pentameter. Sonnets are written in a rhythm called iambic pentameter. An iamb is represented by two syllables and is an example of a metrical foot in a poem. The first syllable of an iamb is unstressed, and the second syllable is ...
How to Write a Sonnet
Write your lines in iambic pentameter (duh-DUH-duh-DUH-duh-DUH-duh-DUH-duh-DUH. Write in one of various standard rhyme schemes (Shakespearean, Petrarchan, or Spenserian). Format the sonnet using 3 quatrains followed by 1 couplet. Compose your sonnet as an argument that builds up as it moves from one metaphor to the next.
How to Write a Sonnet
So if you want to create your own masterpiece, start writing a sonnet today! An interesting read: How To Write Playful Banter. Sonnet tips. Writing a sonnet can be a fun and challenging exercise, and keep a few tips in mind if you want to create effective and beautiful verse. First, you need to be sure that your subject matter is worthy of the ...
Teaching Shakespearean Sonnets in Secondary ELA
Some sonnets are formatted in a problem/solution format while others are organized in a question/ answer format. Still others, such as "Sonnet 18," begin with a comparison that leads to a conclusion in the rhyming couplet at the end. Assignment: Have students label the three quatrains and the rhyming couplet of the sonnet. Then, have ...
Teaching Sonnets Lesson Plan
Teaching sonnets requires teaching strategies. These procedures incorporate the strategies. Read a sonnet-more than once if necessary. Identify the rhyme scheme. Identify the major units of thoughts. Describe the situation or problem in your own words. Identify the turning point. Describe how the situation is rectified.
How to Write a Sonnet (+5 Examples)
How to Write a Sonnet (+5 Examples) One type of structured poem is the sonnet. In this article, we'll cover the rules of the sonnet, the standard formats, and learn how to write a sonnet. Ready?
When & How to Write a Sonnet
C if it meant I could at last get to you. D and then receive your loving and kind kiss. E But because I cannot build a strong ship. F this poorly written poem'll have to do. E I hope your image of me will not dip. F or that you will then decide we are through. G upon reading my attempt at a sonnet.
How (And Why) to Write a Sonnet
Step 1: Pick a Topic. The first thing to do when you're getting ready to write your sonnet is to pick a topic. The narrower your topic is the easier it will be to write just fourteen lines about it. Instead of picking "nature", try "leaves in autumn".
How to Write a Shakespearean Sonnet
After all, you need to know what you're working with before you can do it well. We will look at some history and structure before getting down to the how-tos of Shakespearean sonnet writing.
05.01.11: Studying the Sonnet: An Introduction to the Importance of
Studying the Sonnet: An Introduction to the Importance of Form in Poetry by Lynn Marsico Overview. ... I thought that the notion of form might inhibit their poetry writing even more. The very idea of too many "rules" seemed stifling and frustrating. Secondly, I have avoided teaching the importance of form because I lacked an understanding of ...
How to Write a Sonnet
So, without further ado, let's dive into our guide to how you can write a sonnet in your very best Shakespearean style! 1. Choose a theme for your sonnet. A sonnet is a deeply meaningful poem that expresses a single idea rather than exploring different thoughts or topics. Sonnets can be written about any idea you choose, but most sonnets are ...

How To Write A Sonnet

Sonnet structure

1. Think of an idea for your sonnet

2. Your sonnet must rhyme in a specific pattern

First quatrain

Second quatrain

Third quatrain

3. Your sonnet must have a metrical pattern

Things to think about

Leave a Reply

How to Write a Sonnet

A Quick Sonnet Guide.

An In-Depth Sonnet Guide.

Level 1: Easy: A Sonnet in 10 Minutes

Level 2: Medium: Rhyme-y Poetry

Level 3: Medium-Difficult: Poetry with Rhyme and Structure

Level 4: Difficult: Sonnet in Iambic Pentameter, Careful Attention to Meaning

Level 5: So Difficult It’s Easy: The Soundless Sonnet

CODEC Stories:

19 Responses

Leave a Reply Cancel Reply

Sonnet Definition: What is a Sonnet?

Different Sonnet Forms: The 4 Primary Sonnet Forms

Sonnet Examples Through History

1. The Petrarchan Sonnet / Italian Sonnet

Petrarchan Sonnet Examples

The New Colossus by Emma Lazarus

2. The Shakespearean Sonnet / English Sonnet

Shakespearean Sonnet Examples

Shakespeare Sonnet 116

Other Shakespeare Sonnets

3. The Spenserian Sonnet

Spenserian Sonnet Examples

4. The Contemporary Sonnet

Contemporary Sonnet Examples

First Alzheimer’s Sonnet by Marilyn Nelson

How to Write a Sonnet Poem

1. Explore “Conflict”

2. Sharpen Your Volta

3. Surprise the Reader

4. Play With Form

5. Use Precise Language

Further Readings and Collections

Learn How to Write a Sonnet at Writers.com

Sean Glatch

Leave a Comment Cancel Reply

How to Write a Sonnet – An Easy Poetry Writing Guide

How to Write a Sonnet

Types of Sonnets

Petrarchan Sonnet (Italian Sonnet)

Shakespearean Sonnet (Elizabethan/English Sonnet)

Spenserian Sonnet

Choosing a Sonnet Form

Crafting the Perfect Rhyme Scheme

Meter and Rhythm in Sonnets

The Volta: Turning Point in Sonnets

Writing the Octave (First Eight Lines)

Developing the Sestet (Last Six Lines)

Using Imagery and Figurative Language

Sonnet Themes and Topics

Adding Emotional Depth

Editing and Revising Your Sonnet

Prominent Sonnet Writers

Petrarch: Pioneer of the Italian Sonnet

Shakespeare: The Master of Sonnets

Modern Sonnets and Contemporary Interpretations

A Famous Sonnet Example: Ozymandias (1818) by Percy Bysshe Shelley

Frequently Asked Questions

How Many Lines Are in a Sonnet?

How Many Types of Sonnets Are There?

Who Is the Most Famous Sonnet Writer?

What Is the Best Sonnet Form for Beginners?

How Do I Find Inspiration for My Sonnet?

Can I Break the Traditional Rules of Sonnet Writing?

Cite this Article

Similar Posts

“I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud” by William Wordsworth – Analysis

Haibun – Journeying Through Prose and Poetry

Birthday Poems – 15 Famous Examples You Should Read

How to Write a Pantoum Poem – An Easy Guide for Beginner Poets